Court Opinion

ID: 9505667
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 20:14:12.578363+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:04:41.088321
License: Public Domain

SULLIVAN, Justice,
concurring and dissenting.
I concur in the Court’s opinion except Part VI. A sentence of life without parole is proper in this case only if “any mitigating circumstances that exist are outweighed by the aggravating circumstance” the State has proved. Ind.Code § 35-50-2 — 9(i)(2) (1993). I do not believe that standard has been met here.
The aggravating circumstance proved by the State in this case was the multiple murder aggravator, Ind.Code § 35-50-2-9(b)(8). Without question, this aggravator *130should be weighed in the highest range. Roche v. State, 596 N.E.2d 896, 902 (Ind.1992) (DeBruler, J., concurring). But I would assign the mitigating circumstances here — Defendant’s long history of severe mental illness and the fact that the jury unanimously found him to be mentally ill— equal if not greater weight.
At trial, defense counsel presented the testimony of Dr. Jeffrey Samelson who earned a doctorate in clinical psychology and who practiced in Michigan City for eighteen years. In Dr. Samelson’s opinion, Defendant was insane at the time of the killings.
During the ten sessions in which he examined Defendant, Dr. Samelson performed a clinical evaluation, administered personality tests, and reviewed Defendant’s medical and psychological history. According to Dr. Samelson’s testimony, Defendant had been: (1) repeatedly raped by his older brother when he was a child; (2) stabbed by another brother;1 (3) sexually molested by a school tutor; (4) abandoned by his real father; and (5) hospitalized several times for depression and suicide attempts. Dr. Samelson also testified that Defendant had a long history of serious alcohol and drug abuse. With respect to the personality tests, Dr. Samelson found Defendant suffered from confusion, depression, anxiety, emotional instability, low self-esteem, and thoughts of suicide.
Relying upon this information and his evaluation, Dr. Samelson determined that Defendant was suffering from five different mental diseases including: bi-polar disorder, chronic dysthymia, personality disorder with borderline dependant and antisocial features, alcoholism and substance abuse, and post-traumatic stress, most of which are recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
Dr. George Batacan, a court-appointed psychiatrist, also diagnosed Defendant with bi-polar disorder and substance abuse. Consistent with Dr. Samelson’s opinion, Dr. Batacan’s opinion was that Defendant was insane when the killings occurred. Dr. Batacan’s psychiatric evaluation and mental status report to the trial court showed that Defendant suffered from a long history of mental illness including bi-polar disorder, manic depression, major depression, and sociopathic personality disorder, and his report summarized Defendant’s history of hospitalization for suicide attempts and mental illness.2
Two other court-appointed psychiatrists, both with extensive experience, also testified at trial. Their testimony was consistent with that of Dr. Samelson and Dr. Batacan as to Defendant’s background and history of mental illness. Dr. William Yee testified that there was “no doubt” in his mind that Defendant suffered from mental illness but that he was “unable to say either way ... whether he was insane or not at the time of the [murders].” Dr. Myron Berkson, as the Court discusses in Part IV of its opinion, reported that Defendant suffered from a mental disorder at the time of the murders. His report also identified additional mental illnesses from which Defendant suffered. However, Dr. Berkson was of the opinion that Defendant was not insane at the time of the killings.
In addition to this extensive record of severe mental illness, the jury unanimously found Defendant to be mentally ill at the time he committed the murders.
Based on the testimony of four, experts — Dr. Samelson, Dr. Batacan, Dr. *131Yee and Dr. Berkson — that Defendant had a long history of severe mental illness and the fact that the jury unanimously found Defendant mentally ill, I would find that the aggravating circumstance does not outweigh the mitigating circumstances in this case. I would vacate Defendant’s sentence of life without parole and instead impose a term of years.

. Dr. Samelson testified that Defendant’s brothers "made him crush an animal to death” and that at twelve years of age, Defendant witnessed a young friend overdose on acid.

. For treatment of his mental illness and suicide attempts, Defendant had been committed to Good Samaritan Mental Health Center, Harborview Medical Center, Western State Hospital, and Puget Sound Hospital, all of which are located in the state of Washington.