Opinion ID: 1652618
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Testimony of Dr. Guindon

Text: As part of the State's rebuttal of Johnson's defense, the State called Dr. Kurt Guindon, a psychologist. Dr. Guindon had been hired by the defense to conduct a psychological evaluation of Johnson some time shortly after the murders. After performing the evaluation, Dr. Guindon determined that Johnson did not have PTSD, but he did diagnose a borderline personality disorder with paranoid features. Because a borderline personality disorder diagnosis would be insufficient to relieve Johnson of criminal responsibility for his conduct, the defense decided against using Dr. Guindon as an expert. Prior to the trial, however, Dr. Guindon contacted a newspaper reporter and related that he had performed an evaluation of Johnson, and thereafter, Dr. Guindon was interviewed by newspapers, television, radio stations, and the State as well. Johnson now claims that the trial court plainly erred by failing to declare a mistrial when Dr. Guindon testified and when Johnson and the defense experts were questioned on cross-examination about Dr. Guindon's evaluation. Johnson also claims that the Rule 29.15 court clearly erred when it did not find defense counsel ineffective for failing to preserve the error and when it did not find prosecutorial misconduct for using Dr. Guindon's evaluation and conclusions. In particular, Johnson contends that Dr. Guindon's testimony violated both the American Medical Association's (AMA) Principles of Ethics and the physician-patient privilege set out in section 491.060, RSMo 1994. We disagree. It is not the role of this Court to enforce the ethics of the AMA nor to police its membership. Furthermore, the physician-patient privilege is waived in cases such as this, where the defendant puts his mental status in issue. State v. Skillicorn, 944 S.W.2d 877, 897 (Mo. banc 1997). More precisely, when a party once places the question of his mental condition in issue he thereby waives the physician-patient privilege to exclude testimony of any doctors who have examined him for that purpose. State v. Carter, 641 S.W.2d 54, 57 (Mo. banc 1982). A defendant cannot call those doctors who support his position and then try to prevent the testimony of other doctors who examined him for the same condition. Id. at 57 (citing State v. Sapp, 356 Mo. 705, 203 S.W.2d 425, 429 (1947)). Because Dr. Guindon's ethical standards are not at issue and because Johnson waived any privilege that would prevent Dr. Guindon from testifying, there was no error. The point is denied.