Opinion ID: 1318538
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: admissibility of dr. coleman's rebuttal testimony

Text: The State contends that the district court should have admitted Dr. Coleman's rebuttal testimony under § 7-11-305(d), W.S. 1977, which states: In addition [to the designated examiners who examined the defendant for competency], the state and the defendant may summon other expert witnesses who did not examine the defendant. Such experts are not competent to testify as to the mental responsibility of the defendant; however, they may testify as to the validity of the procedures followed and the general scientific propositions stated by other witnesses.  (Emphasis added.) According to the State, this statute expressly permitted Dr. Coleman to attack the various tests employed by the defense psychiatrists. We agree. When it was held that Dr. Coleman's proffered testimony would undermine statutory procedures, the distinction between the competency of a witness and the competency of a witness' opinion was improperly blurred. In § 7-11-305(c), the legislature stated that examining psychiatrists are competent to testify about the sanity of the defendant. [2] A rebuttal witness cannot argue that examining psychiatrists are incompetent witnesses who should not be permitted to testify. That matter is settled by the statute. But, § 7-11-305(c) does not say that the opinions expressed by psychiatric witnesses are automatically competent, i.e., credible. Through § 7-11-305(d), the legislature has expressly permitted a non-examining psychiatrist to question the validity of the procedures and general scientific propositions presented by the examining psychiatrists. The legislature did not list the psychiatric procedures or propositions that it endorses. Nor did it limit the number of procedures or propositions that can be offered or attacked. If the examining psychiatrists offer every proposition or procedure for testing sanity that is known to man, a rebuttal psychiatrist can attack every one of them. And if the rebuttal psychiatrist can attack every test individually, there is no logical reason why he cannot attack them as a group by stating that there are no valid tests that have been developed by the psychiatric profession. If the legislature thought that there are at least some valid psychiatric tests of sanity, it could have endorsed those tests in the statute. But the legislature did not do so. Apparently, the legislature could not decide which psychiatric tests, if any, are valid, so it left that decision to the juries on a case-by-case basis. The legislative intent is not violated when a rebuttal witness tells the jury that there are no psychiatric tests which can be used to ascertain sanity. Instead, such testimony helps the jury perform its delegated task, the evaluation of the psychiatric tests. Under our interpretation of § 7-11-305(d), the jury is free to disregard the rebuttal testimony of a witness like Dr. Coleman and conclude that some or all of the tests performed by the examining psychiatrists are credible. On the other hand, the jury should also be free to conclude that there are no psychiatric tests that can help it ascertain the defendant's sanity at the time of the offense. The jury would then have to decide the sanity issue based on evidence other than psychiatric test results. For example, it might have to apply its collective understanding of human behavior to the defendant's criminal acts, his demeanor in the courtroom or his other out-of-court conduct. The jury's reliance on evidence other than psychiatric opinion is consistent with our opinion in Gerard v. State, supra, 511 P.2d at 104. There we said that a jury can disregard psychiatric testimony and rely on other evidence which shows that the defendant knew his actions were morally wrong and that he had sufficient will power to control his acts. [3] We quoted with approval the following statement: `The jury is the ultimate judge of defendant's sanity at the time of the crime, and    since it had before it evidence of defendant's behavior and state of mind upon the basis of which it could have found defendant sane at that time, it was not bound by the expert opinion testimony of the doctor.' Id., quoting People v. Krugman, 377 Mich. 559, 141 N.W.2d 33, 35 (1966). Of course, the jury would have been free to ignore Dr. Coleman's views and rely upon the opinions of the defendant's psychiatrists. In either case, the jury would have ultimately applied the legislature's definition of insanity. Dr. Coleman's critique of all psychiatric testing would not have interfered with the jury's ability to determine Mr. Zespy's sanity under the legislature's definition of that term. In conclusion, the district court should have allowed Dr. Coleman to testify about the tests conducted by the examining experts. He should also have been permitted to testify that there are no psychiatric tests upon which a psychiatrist can base a valid opinion about a defendant's sanity. This kind of testimony is permitted by § 7-11-305(d), W.S. 1977. It would not have nullified the legislature's decision that examining psychiatrists are competent witnesses, and it would not have prevented the jury from applying the legislature's definition of insanity.