Kaulaity v. State

1975 OK CR 90, 536 P.2d 1006
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedMay 19, 1975
DocketNo. F-74-694
StatusPublished

This text of 1975 OK CR 90 (Kaulaity v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kaulaity v. State, 1975 OK CR 90, 536 P.2d 1006 (Okla. Ct. App. 1975).

Opinions

OPINION

BLISS, Judge:

Appellant, Robert L. Kaulaity, hereinafter referred to as defendant, was charged, tried and convicted in the District Court, Caddo County, Case No. CRF-73-109, for the crime of Murder in the Second Degree, in violation of 21 O.S.Supp.1973, § 701.2. His punishment was assessed at ten (10) years to life imprisonment in the custody of the State Department of Corrections, and from said judgment and sentence, a timely appeal has been perfected to this Court.

The findings of the evidentiary hearing as to the sanity of the defendant were such that the trial court ordered a jury trial to be held pursuant to 22 O.S.1971, § 1162, on April 8, 1974. The jury returned the verdict that defendant was presently sane and mentally competent to make a rational presentation and to aid in his defense. Trial was set for April 9, 1974.

During the murder trial, defendant’s sister and brother-in-law both testified that on December 8, 1973, the defendant and his wife came to their house, whereupon defendant and his wife told them that they had killed Domebo. Defendant and his wife directed defendant’s sister and her husband to the location where the deceased was shot. They helped defendant and his wife put deceased into defendant’s sister’s car and took him to the hospital. Austin Domebo died shortly thereafter. In the opinion of Dr. Richard Boatman of the State Medical Examiner’s Office, the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head. The gun offered into evidence by the State was identified by the defendant’s father as one he had sold his son. As to these allegations of fact, there was no controversy.

The defense then proceeded to present its case. The first and only witness called was Dr. A. C. Roberson. Dr. Roberson testified that he was a physician residing in Anadarko, Oklahoma, and he had served on the sanity commission of Caddo County numerous times during his sixteen years of practice. Further, Dr. Roberson testified he had attended the defendant since defendant was a small child, and for about a year since his return from Vietnam, due to an emotional breakdown. During that year, the physician testified defendant had an episode of irrational behavior (Tr. 201). Prior to December 8, 1973, the date of the alleged crime, and thereafter, the defendant had demonstrated this same behavioral pattern, according to the testimony of Dr. Roberson. His opinion as to whether defendant could have been sane or insane on the date of the crime was that “it could have been either way.”

On cross-examination, Dr. Roberson testified he was not a psychiatrist, nor had he given defendant any psychiatric tests. Upon re-direct, Dr. Roberson stated he based his opinion upon his years of practice of medicine. Dr. Roberson further testified that defendant had been confined in the psychiatric ward in Sam Houston after his return from Vietnam, and had been on out-patient care approximately five or six years. The defense rested its case, whereupon, the State rested.

The defendant’s first proposition of error alleges that defendant was denied the right to a fair trial by the court’s refusal to grant a continuance as requested by the defendant so as to have psychiatric examination at his own expense. The defense argues that denial of a motion for continuance of the sanity hearing on April 8, 1974, and denial for. the trial on April 9, 1974, denied defendant a fair trial. Defense submits that if defendant had been able to obtain a psychiatrist’s evaluation [1008]*1008that, first, the defense could have shown he was not mentally competent to aid his counsel, and second, that defendant was insane at the time of the crime. Further, a qualified psychiatrist would have been able to give the jury a positive analysis of defendant’s mental condition, as Dr. Roberson was unable to do. In the transcript of the Sanity Hearing Proceedings, at page 39, we find the following:

[Mr. Humphrey]
“Q: Do you say that he is psychotic ?
“A: I don’t know that I am qualified that he is psychotic.
“Q: Why are you not qualified ?
“A: I am not a psychiatrist.”

Further, at the murder trial, page 203 :

“Q: You are not a psychiatrist, are you?
“A: No, sir, I am not.
“Q: You are not telling me that he was psychotic on that day or any other day, are you?
“A: I am saying that he has been irresponsible several times.
“Q: Right; irresponsible but psychotic, was he psychotic?
“A: That would be a psychiatric diagnosis, and I am not a psychiatrist.
“Q: Then if you are not a psychiatrist you cannot give a psychiatric evaluation then, can you, Doctor ?
“A: No. ...”

Further, defense contends that the State’s witness during the sanity trial was not a certified psychiatrist; and, therefore, defendant was deprived of ever being examined by a psychiatrist. Defense cites 22 O.S.1971, § 584, as authority that the court may, at its discretion, direct a trial to be postponed to another day in the same term or the next.

The defendant was not seeking a continuance to obtain the presence of a witness to the crime or an alibi witness, and defendant had ample time to secure a private psychiatrist prior to the date of trial. The record reveals that the defense knew as of March 4, 1974, that insanity would be the defense presented. Defendant, at that time, filed a motion for continuance of the preliminary hearing. The defense had approximately one month to. obtain the services of a private psychiatrist, which we deem as ample time. Defendant further contends that the money was not raised by his family until April 6, 1974. Even so, it is within the sound discretion of the trial court to grant a motion for continuance. We do not feel the court has abused its discretion. Stidham v. State, Okl.Cr., 507 P.2d 1312 (1973); Allen v. State, Okl.Cr., 507 P.2d 606 (1973); Robertson v. State, Okl.Cr., 503 P.2d 896 (1972).

Defendant’s second proposition of error asserts that defendant was denied his right to equal protection and due process of law required by the Fourteenth Amendment. The defense argues that, due to the fact that defendant was indigent, he was not able to hire a psychiatrist to evaluate his competency to stand trial and to testify as to his sanity at the time of the crime.

In Stidham v. State, supra, this Court held that the State’s psychiatrist’s report stating that defendant accused of murder was not mentally ill according to the laws of the State, was able to distinguish between right and wrong, and was capable of advising his attorney in his own defense was sufficient under statute providing that case will proceed if doctor’s opinion is that patient is presently sane. 22 O.S.1971, § 1172. The question of sanity at the time of the commission of the allged offense is a question of fact for the jury. Stidham v. State, supra, quoting from O’Dell v. State, Okl.Cr., 455 P.2d 750 (1969). Further, the testimony of experts as to defendant’s sanity at the time of the psychiatric examination is only evidence to be considered along with other testimony on the issue of sanity at the time of the alleged offense. The expert’s testimony is not conclusive on the issue of mental ca[1009]*1009pacity.

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Related

Stidham v. State
1973 OK CR 143 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1973)
Allen v. State
1973 OK CR 94 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1973)
Jones v. State
1971 OK CR 2 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1971)
Robertson v. State
1972 OK CR 336 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1972)
O'DELL v. State
1969 OK CR 171 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1969)

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Bluebook (online)
1975 OK CR 90, 536 P.2d 1006, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kaulaity-v-state-oklacrimapp-1975.