Opinion ID: 1740065
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Jury Verdict and Bird's Appeal

Text: The district court instructed the jury on first-degree premeditated murder, first-degree heat-of-passion manslaughter, intentional second-degree murder, and first-degree domestic abuse murder. The jury found Bird guilty of first-degree premeditated murder and first-degree domestic abuse murder. After concluding that the two counts merged for sentencing purposes, the court sentenced Bird to life in prison. Bird appealed his conviction to our court, arguing that the district court abused its discretion when it excluded expert psychiatric testimony regarding the nature of psychosis in general and the fact that Bird was psychotic at the time he shot his wife.
We review a district court's exclusion of expert testimony for abuse of discretion, State v. Griese, 565 N.W.2d 419, 425 (Minn.1997), and any error in excluding such testimony is subject to harmless error analysis. See State v. Quick, 659 N.W.2d 701, 713 (Minn.2003). When a defendant pleads not guilty by reason of mental illness, expert psychiatric testimony is admissible during the mental illness phase of the defendant's trial to establish that he was laboring under such a defect of reason that he lacked the capacity to form the intent that was otherwise manifested. State v. Bouwman, 328 N.W.2d 703, 705 (Minn.1982); see also Minn. R.Crim. P. 20.02, subd. 6(2) (prescribing a bifurcated trial for defendants pleading not guilty by reason of mental illness). Expert psychiatric testimony is not admissible during the guilt phase of a trial to establish that at the time of the alleged offense, a defendant lacked the mental capacity to form specific intent or to premeditate. State v. Brom, 463 N.W.2d 758, 762-63 (Minn.1990); Bouwman, 328 N.W.2d at 704-05. Further, expert psychiatric testimony is not admissible during the guilt phase to show that a defendant did not in fact form the requisite mental state for the offense charged. State v. Provost, 490 N.W.2d 93, 98 (Minn.1992). [4] Finally, we have also stated that expert testimony is generally not admissible during the guilt phase of a trial to inform the fact-finder about the general effects of a mental illness, but [t]here may be a few exceptions. Id. at 103. Two such exceptions are (1) the very rare circumstance in which a defendant's mental illness is characterized by the formation of a particular subjective state of mind inconsistent with the pertinent criminal mens rea; and (2) when a defendant has a past history of mental illness and that history helps explain `the whole man' as he was before the events of the crime and before the miasma of after-the-crime rationalizations. Id. at 103-04. Bird argues that notwithstanding our decisions in Bouwman and subsequent cases, the district court abused its discretion when it excluded Gratzer's testimony regarding Bird's psychosis at the time he shot his wife. Bird asserts that Gratzer's testimony was admissible because it was not offered on the issue of Bird's mental state and was instead offered to help the jury decide whether Bird acted in the heat of passion and with extreme indifference to human life. Bird also argues that Gratzer's testimony is admissible under both of the exceptions we articulated in Provost. Minnesota Statutes § 609.20(1) (2006) provides that anyone who intentionally causes the death of another person in the heat of passion provoked by such words or acts of another as would provoke a person of ordinary self-control under like circumstances is guilty of manslaughter in the first degree. Whether a defendant acted in the heat of passion is a subjective inquiry that focuses on the defendant's emotional statethat is, whether the defendant was actually provoked. State v. Hannon, 703 N.W.2d 498, 510 (Minn.2005); State v. Buntrock, 560 N.W.2d 383, 386 (Minn.1997). But whether a person of ordinary self-control would be provoked under like circumstances requires an objective analysis. Hannon, 703 N.W.2d at 510. Bird argues that the excluded expert testimony is relevant to both the subjective and objective elements of the provocation defense. [5]