Opinion ID: 2061735
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Request For Bifurcated Jury Deliberations

Text: Prior to trial, defendant provided notice of intent to present an insanity defense and then moved for bifurcated jury proceedings. Defendant proposed that in the first phase of the deliberations, the jury should determine whether defendant was guilty, guilty of a lesser included offense, not responsible by reason of insanity, or not guilty. It was proposed that if defendant was found guilty, the jury would reconvene to determine whether he was guilty but mentally ill. The trial court denied defendant's motion. In this appeal, defendant couches his allegation of error in terms of a denial of due process, contending that bifurcated submission of the issues to the jury was necessary to avoid a confused, misinformed and compromised verdict. Defendant suggests the jury was under a misapprehension that a guilty but mentally ill verdict meant psychiatric treatment for defendant with little or no jail time. We find that the trial court's ruling was not erroneous. In Taylor v. State (1982), Ind., 440 N.E.2d 1109, we rejected a similar constitutional challenge predicated on the contention that the terms insanity and mental illness were vague and susceptible to misinterpretation by persons of ordinary intelligence. The jury here was properly advised as to their role as fact finder and that sentencing was a responsibility vested solely in the court. The jury was properly instructed as to the elements of the crimes charged, the defense of insanity, and the legal definitions of mental illness and mental disease or defect.