Court Opinion

ID: 9627617
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 08:48:46.630073+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:06:47.703445
License: Public Domain

THOMAS, Justice,
concurring specially, with whom CARDINE, Chief Justice, joins.
I agree with the decision of this case according to the majority opinion. I am *589content with all aspects of its holdings, and the rationale for those holdings, except for part “I. Gale’s Motion For Independent Psychological Examinations of the Minor Victims.” The final dispositive statement of that issue as provided in the majority opinion (“The trial court acted properly and within its discretion when it denied Gale’s motion to compel the examinations.”) suggests by implication that the trial court could have granted that motion as a matter of discretion. It is only in attaching that significance to the majority opinion that I find myself in agreement with the dissent. That implication is contrary to the specific rejection of the California theory articulated in Ballard v. Superior Court, 64 Cal.2d 159, 49 Cal.Rptr. 302, 410 P.2d 838, 18 A.L.R.3d 1416 (1966), and People v. Russel, 69 Cal.2d 187, 70 Cal.Rptr. 210, 443 P.2d 794, cert. denied 393 U.S. 864, 89 S.Ct. 145, 21 L.Ed.2d 132 (1968). It is also inconsistent with our ruling in Zabel v. State, 765 P.2d 357 (Wyo.1988). I can only conclude that the majority opinion inadvertently indicated that the trial court might be vested with discretion to order a psychiatric or psychological evaluation of a victim witness.
I have no quarrel with the criticism of the Ballard and Russel rationale found in the opinions of other jurisdictions. I add my own. It is certain that no court can require any person to submit to a psychological or psychiatric examination or evaluation. Without the cooperation of the subject, no meaningful conclusions can be drawn nor can an appropriate diagnosis be made. A court could, however, order submission to the procedure under penalty of contempt of court. I unequivocally believe that even our enlightened society would not long tolerate a result that found the victim incarcerated for refusing to submit to an evaluation or examination while the accused perpetrator suffered no consequences. The only other alternative would be a dismissal of the state’s charges if the victim witness would not cooperate in the procedure. Again, I am firm in my conviction that the people would find that approach too ludicrous to bear. Consequently, because the possible remedies are ineffi-cacious, there is no point in affording any discretion to the trial courts in this regard, and this court should say clearly that no such discretion is recognized in the law.
I perceive the dissenting opinion as essentially a call for reform of the rules of discovery that pertain in a criminal case. In the dissent, n. 22 at 619-620, it is mentioned that the prescience for this call is obtained through a walk in the “watered garden of academia.” While that prescience and call may be appropriate for the academicians, it must be remembered that any garden depends on fertilizer as much as water. An appellate court should not attempt to adjust rules in any case in an ad hoc and after the fact fashion. Such an approach is nothing more than chaotic and evidences an abandonment of the judicial function. It stands as the truest example of government by men, not law.
The dissenting opinion is committed to establishing the innocence of Gale and the culpability of the victims’ parents for different crimes, which is obviously not a material concern in resolving this case. That conclusion of Gale’s innocence is articulated and reiterated, and the goal of the dissent is to establish what is perceived to be the just result that would have been achieved had the rules been different for this case or had the parents been tried for sexual offenses against the victims. In short, the dissent determines that Gale is innocent, and then reasons from that conclusion. It is not appropriate for any appellate court, particularly a supreme court, to adjust the rules in an ad hoc manner from case to case or crime to crime. There is no question that there are many convicts languishing in durance vile who might have been acquitted if some novel or special rule of discovery or procedure had been invoked to govern a particular case. If we are to claim a system of criminal justice and rules that serve that system, however, they must be the same and consistently applied. While it is a favorite technique of defense counsel to try the prosecution or the prosecution witnesses, that tactic has no place in appellate opinions.
*590As set forth in the dissent, the effort to mix civil discovery concepts into the criminal law is simply inappropriate. The suggestion that the Wyoming Rules of Civil Procedure are invoked in criminal cases by virtue of the language of Rule 1, W.R.C.P., is not only a leap in logic, but also a leap in faith. That faith is not well founded. No credence is given to the proposition that civil discovery can be justified because the same opportunity is available to both parties since that is not true in a criminal case. In arguing for expanded discovery for the defendant, the dissent mentions equivalency, but the concept is fictitious in the criminal arena. The Fifth Amendment stands as a clear bar to reciprocal discovery, and the discovery permitted by Rule 18, W.R.Cr.P., represents the compromise that has been achieved in the criminal law. Furthermore, we must remember that even civil discovery is limited to the bounds of relevance.
Neither should we lightly assume that a witness in a criminal case, whether the complainant or not, is subject to the same requirements for discovery as a party in a civil case. The judiciary should not be so blind as to assume that the constitutions serve only criminal defendants. Others have rights as well. The demand for psychiatric examinations in cases such as this is a call for a rule that victims of sexual assault, primarily women, must not only be stripped of their physical integrity, but they must also surrender their minds and souls at the behest of their tormentors.
In Wyoming, discovery in a criminal case is governed by Rule 18, W.R.Cr.P., and the decisions of this court that have construed it. That rule does not extend to summaries of expert witnesses like Rule 26(b)(1), W.R. C.P. Neither do the ABA Standards for Criminal Justice. The quoted language,
“(iv) any reports or statements made by experts in connection with the particular case, including results of physical or mental examinations and of scientific tests, experiments, or comparisons; * * II ABA Standards for Criminal Justice, Standard 11-2.1 (2d ed. 1980),
is no different in substance from Rule 18, W.R.Cr.P., and it does not justify furnishing summaries of the testimony of expert witnesses.
The justification for enhanced discovery because of perjury in this case also requires rebuttal. The dissent adopts a very far ranging concept of perjury. Not every inconsistent statement or fact that impeaches a witness demonstrates perjury. People can be mistaken, and wilful prevarication is not demonstrated in every instance by contrary information. The instances recited in the majority opinion would not serve, in any case, to justify a criminal charge of perjury and might, therefore, be more fairly described as inconsistencies.
The majority opinion addresses the issues actually present in this case in a very professional manner. They are resolved by a correct application of the applicable principles of law. Since it is not an appropriate role for this court to either serve as an advocate for the defendant or as the prosecutor and jury for the parents, I am pleased to join in the disposition of this case that is announced in the majority opinion.