Court Opinion

ID: 9679527
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 06:55:01.392264+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:14.514556
License: Public Domain

WAHL, Justice
(concurring specially).
This court has not previously considered whether the attorney-client privilege should apply to exclude testimony of a defense psychiatrist who is not called by the defense but is called by the prosecution to rebut the defense of mental illness. The issue has been considered, however, by a number of state and federal courts in factual situations which are precisely or closely analogous to the situation presented in defendant’s case. Every court, with the exception of People v. Edney, 39 N.Y.2d 620, 350 N.E.2d 400, 385 N.Y.S.2d 23 (1976), has concluded that the attorney-client privilege *242should be applicable, though some courts have gone on to find waiver or harmless error in the facts at hand. See United States v. White, 617 F.2d 1131, 1135 (5th Cir. 1980) (dicta); United States v. Alvarez, 519 F.2d 1036 (3d Cir. 1975); Houston v. State, 602 P.2d 784 (Alaska 1979); Pouncy v. State, 353 So.2d 640 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1977) (dicta); State v. Pratt, 284 Md. 516, 398 A.2d 421 (1979); People v. Hilliker, 29 Mich.App. 543, 185 N.W.2d 831 (1971); State v. Kociolek, 23 N.J. 400, 129 A.2d 417 (1957); State v. Moore, 45 Or.App. 837, 609 P.2d 866 (1980).
In the case at bar it was necessary for defendant’s attorney to request the services and assistance of a psychiatrist to interpret for him defendant’s communication to his attorney with regard to defendant’s mental condition. As the Alvarez court noted, the psychiatrist will of necessity make inquiry about the facts surrounding the alleged crime just as the attorney will. Just as disclosures made by defendant to the attorney cannot be used to furnish proof in the state’s case, so disclosures made by defendant to the attorney’s expert should be equally unavailable, at least until that expert is placed on the witness stand. 519 F.2d at 1046-47. I would hold such disclosures to be protected by the attorney-client privilege.
To allow the attorney-client privilege to control in the limited factual situation before us in no way changes the primary structure, intent or coherency of the Minnesota Rules of Criminal Procedure adopted in 1975. Those rules contain no specific provision authorizing the calling of the defense psychiatrist by the prosecution but do otherwise provide necessary information to prosecuting attorneys.
Rule 20.02, subd. 1 of the Minnesota Rules of Criminal Procedure provides: “The court having trial jurisdiction over the offense charged may order a mental examination of the defendant when the defense has notified the prosecuting attorney pursuant to Rule 9.02, subd. l(3)(a) of an intention to assert a defense of mental illness or deficiency * * If the mental examination is ordered, Minn.R.Crim.P. 20.02, subd. 2 provides that the court “shall appoint at least one qualified psychiatrist, or clinical psychologist, or physician experienced in the field of mental illness to examine the defendant and report upon his mental condition.” That examination may be observed, upon request, by a psychiatrist for either prosecution or defense. Id. If the defendant refuses to be examined or to participate adequately in the court-ordered examination, defendant may be prohibited from introducing evidence as to his mental condition. Id., subd. 3. The report of the court-ordered examination is then forwarded to the judge who issued the order, and he forwards copies thereof to the counsel for prosecution and defense. Id., subd. 4. Nowhere does Rule 20.02 give the prosecution the right to observe or receive a report of an examination of the defendant by the defendant’s own psychiatrist. The written report provided for in Rule 20.02, subd. 4, clearly refers to the court-ordered examination.
Rule 20.02, subd. 5, provides in pertinent part that “If [the defendant’s] mental condition is an issue, any party may call the person who examined the defendant at the direction of the court to testify as a witness at the trial and he shall be subject to cross-examination by any other party.” When read in conjunction with Rule 20.02, subd. 2, which requires a court-appointed doctor in all mental illness cases and makes appointment of other experts permissive, the use of the singular when referring to “person” leads me to conclude that subd. 5 refers only to the court-appointed expert. Under Rule 20.02, subd. 6(1), if defendant relies solely on a defense of mental illness, “statements made by the defendant for the purpose of the mental examination and evidence obtained as a result of the statements shall be admissible at the trial upon that issue.” (Emphasis added.) The examination referred to can only be the examination ordered by the court under Rule 20.02, subds. 1 and 2.
Minn.R.Crim.P. 20.03, subd. 1 provides that when the defendant raises the defense *243of mental illness or mental deficiency he may be ordered to turn over to the court “copies of all medical reports and hospital and medical records” concerning this mental condition which are “relevant to the issue of the defense of his mental illness or mental deficiency.” The rule includes all such records “previously or thereafter made.” Id. If the judge determines that the documents are relevant, they must be given to the prosecution. Subdivision 2 limits' the use of such records to use as evidence on the mental illness issue. While this rule might be construed so as to require disclosures of records of any mental examination, it applies literally to medical or hospital records and reports. We do not take it to apply to reports made by defense psychiatrists to defense lawyers about the defendant’s mental condition as it relates to legal questions. Reports of psychiatrists who will be called as defense witnesses, or records which will be introduced at trial, remain discoverable under Minn.R.Crim.P. 9.02.
Rule 9.02, subds. 1(1) and 1(2), governing pre-trial disclosure by the defense without court order, limits disclosure to tangible objects, documents and reports which the defendant intends to introduce as evidence or which are related to the testimony of a witness whom the defendant intends to call. Similarly, under Rule 9.02, subd. l(3)(a) and (b), the defense need disclose to the prosecution only the names and statements of persons whom the defendant intends to call as witnesses at the trial. We noted in State v. Malzac, 309 Minn. 300, 309 n. 9, 244 N.W.2d 258, 263 n. 9 (1976), that Rule 9.02 is based upon ABA Standards for Criminal Justice, Discovery and Procedure Before Trial (Approved Draft, 1970) §§ 3.1, 3.2, 3.3. See Rule 9, Comment, 49 Minn.Stat.Annot. 112 (West 1979). Both the Comment to Rule 9 and the ABA (approved draft) Standard indicate that the restrictions on disclosure by the defendant were considered necessary to avoid the possibility of infringement on the defendant’s constitutional rights, especially on the privilege against self-incrimination.
The prosecution has access to the court-appointed expert and the records of the court-ordered examination. In addition, under Rule 20.02, subd. 2, the prosecution has the right to retain its own psychiatrist either to observe the court-ordered examination or to conduct its own examination or both. There is no showing on this record that a dearth of psychiatric evidence or witnesses available to the prosecution exists. Rule 20.02, subd. 3 makes adequate provision for prohibiting defendants from introducing evidence of their mental condition if they refuse to participate in the court-ordered examinations.