Hashfield v. State

210 N.E.2d 429, 247 Ind. 95, 1965 Ind. LEXIS 316
Indiana Supreme Court·Decided October 6, 1965·No. 30,360·Published·Cited by 21 cases

Opinion

Achor, J.

This is an appeal by Emmett O. Hashfield, appellant herein, from the judgment of the Monroe Circuit Court convicting him of murder in the first degree and imposing the death penalty. Appellant, who had three times previously been convicted of sex offenses, raped, killed and dismembered an eleven year old girl, in Warrick County, and cast the remnants of her body into the Ohio River.

Appellant filed a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, and pursuant to said plea the court appointed two psychiatrists who examined the appellant and testified regarding his sanity at the conclusion of the trial, as provided by Acts 1927, ch. 102, § 1, p. 268, being Burns’ Ind. Stat. Anno. § 9-1702 (1956 Repl.).

At the request of the pauper counsel appointed by the court, the court also authorized the employment of three physicians by the appellant for his use in the preparation of his defense, their expenses to be paid by the state.

In his motion for new trial the appellant asserted one hundred and one [101] grounds in support thereof. However, on appeal he asserts only eight “points” or propositions of law as the basis of his argument. Some of these propositions combined several grounds asserted in the motion for new trial. Other grounds asserted in said motion are waived by reason of appellant’s failure to here present any argument with respect thereto. 1

Under his first point, appellant asserts that the court committed reversible error in that he overruled defendant’s *98 motion for a continuance at the conclusion of the testimony of the court-appointed psychiatrists, for the purpose of obtaining expert medical testimony in rebuttal to their testimony. Appellant asserts that this failure to grant a continuance violated his constitutional rights under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U. S. Constitution, and Article 1, §§ 12 and 13 of the Indiana Constitution.

In support of their argument counsel first directs our attention to the fact that prior to the trial they had sought an order from the trial court to permit appellant to examine the report of said court-appointed doctors, or in the alternative, to personally interrogate them. The motion was denied, as was a petition for writ of mandate filed with this court seeking the same relief. State ex rel. Hashfield v. Warrick Cir. Ct. (1961), 242 Ind. 318, 178 N. E. 2d 734.

Appellant then proceeds to assert that he was “surprised” by and therefore unprepared to rebut the testimony of said court-appointed witnesses who testified that in their opinions, although the defendant was at the time of their examinations, and at the time the offense was committed, a sexual deviate of a sociopathic personality group, he was nevertheless mentally capable of knowing right from wrong and of controlling his impulse to commit the crime with which he was charged and found guilty. In other words, in their opinion, he was leg’ally sane. The term “legally sane” has been firmly established as a criterion to be considered in criminal prosecutions in this state. 2

Specifically, appellant’s attorneys assert that they were “surprised” and “unprepared” to meet the testimony of the court-appointed doctors for the reason that “the appellant’s *99 best indication of the probable opinion of the medical findings would have been the same as those of appellant’s own medical experts whose testimony, appellant asserts, was contrary to that of the court-appointed doctors.”

Because of the severity of the penalty imposed in this case, we have given thorough consideration as to whether there may have been reversible error upon this or any other issue raised by the defense.

Admittedly the granting or denial of a continuance is a discretionary matter to be exercised by the trial court. Leise v. State (1954), 233 Ind. 250, 118 N. E. 2d 731. Counsel in oral argument presented a strong and impassioned argument in support of their contention that under the facts of this case there was such an abuse of discretion by the court. However, after an exhaustive examination of the record, we find no foundation for appellant’s contention, for several reasons. 3

1. The prosecution, as a part of its case-in-chief, presented Dr. Charles Cruddex, the psychiatrist who stated that, in his opinion, although the defendant was a sociopathic personality with sexual deviations, he was capable of knowing right from wrong with respect to the particular act in question and of controlling his impulse to commit such act. Ferdinand Samper, as counsel for defendant, subjected Dr. Cruddex to a skillful cross-examination and re-cross examination, which comprises 67 pages in the transcript, without discrediting the doctor or altering his opinion as to the “legal sanity” of the accused.

2. The defense, in support of appellant’s plea of insanity, presented Drs. Dwight Schuster and William DeMeyer as witnesses. Dr. Schuster, after a detailed report regarding his examination which covered a period of several weeks, merely testified: “I believe that he is not normal when it comes to *100 sex.” Thus his testimony could not be considered as even material as to the question of sanity or insanity of the accused.

Thus, it could only be upon the testimony of Dr. DeMeyer that the defense could base any claim as to surprise, because of the variance in the testimony of the medical experts. We therefore, consider the testimony of Dr. DeMeyer at length.

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Hashfield v. State, 210 N.E.2d 429, 247 Ind. 95, 1965 Ind. LEXIS 316 (Ind. 1965).

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