People v. Finn

64 A.D.2d 526, 406 N.Y.S.2d 800, 1978 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 12271
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedJuly 11, 1978
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 64 A.D.2d 526 (People v. Finn) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Finn, 64 A.D.2d 526, 406 N.Y.S.2d 800, 1978 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 12271 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1978).

Opinion

—Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County, rendered June 21, 1976, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of two counts of robbery in the first degree and sentencing him to concurrent terms of imprisonment of from 10 to 20 years on each count, reversed, on the law and as a matter of discretion in the interest of justice, and case remanded for a new trial. A defendant waives the privilege against self incrimination when he interposes an insanity defense. However, a defendant’s waiver of this privilege because of his plea of insanity only permits the psychiatrist to testify as to the facts which formulate the basis of his medical opinion on the question of sanity. The psychiatric testimony may not be considered on the issue of guilt. The foregoing principles control whether it be the prosecution or the defendant who requests the psychiatric examination (Matter of Lee v County Ct. of Erie County, 27 NY2d 432, 440-442, cert den 404 US 823). Thus, it is fundamentally unfair to use a defendant’s incriminatory statements to a psychiatrist as part of a prosecution’s case to establish a defendant’s guilt (Collins v Auger, 428 F Supp 1079; see People v Crimmins, 36 NY2d 230, 237-238). Even in the absence of timely protest, as in this proceeding, this court will reverse and order a new trial where a defendant has been deprived of his fundamental right to a fair trial. (People v McLucas, 15 NY2d 167, 172; CPL 470.15, subd 3, par [c]; 470.15, subd 6, par [a].) At trial, defendant raised the defense of insanity. A psychiatrist, Dr. Train, examined the defendant at his own request. The psychiatrist, called by the prosecution on rebuttal, testified as to the incriminating statements made by the defendant with regard to two of the three robberies covered by the consolidated indictment. Although defense counsel did not object, it was incumbent upon the trial court to give cautionary instructions as to the use of the psychiatrist’s testimony. As was mentioned above, his testimony could be considered on the issue of sanity but not that of guilt. This basic error was compounded when the prosecutor, in his summation, referred to "the defendant’s admission to the doctor on these particular points [i.e., linking him with the robberies]”. The error was perpetuated as a result of the trial court’s failure to give any charge with regard to the proper use of the psychiatric testimony. This mistake was further exacerbated when the trial court, answering one of the jury’s questions during deliberation, stated "the testimony of defendant’s admissions to Dr. Train of robbing the people”. Again, despite the failure of defense counsel to raise objections or to make a request to charge, this court can not ignore these fundamental errors. There can be little doubt that, in the absence of warning instructions, the jurors improperly treated defendant’s "admissions” as evidence in chief on the issue of guilt. The trial court, in each of the foregoing instances, should have made it clear to the jury that defendant’s incriminating statements to his psychiatrist were not evidentiary "admissions” on the issue of guilt. (Richardson, Evidence [10th ed], § 209 et seq.) The trial court should have emphasized that the incriminating statements were only being admitted to show the basis for the psychiatrist’s medical opinion (Matter of Lee v County Ct. of Erie County, 27 NY2d 432, supra; CPL 60.55). Concur— Murphy, P. J., Birns and Sullivan, JJ.; Lupiano and Silverman, JJ., dissent in a memorandum by Silverman, J., as follows: I would affirm the judgment appealed from. We start with the fact that as there was a defense of insanity, the testimony of the psychiatrist was concededly admissible. What [527]*527are claimed to be errors are the comment by the prosecutor in summation mentioning admissions of the crime by the defendant, the use by the Judge of the word "admissions” in answering a question from the jury, and the failure of the court to give limiting instructions with respect to these admissions. My reasons for affirmance are these: (1) No objection or request was made by defendant as to any of these claimed errors. Further, at the end of the Judge’s charge, defendant’s attorney explicitly stated that he had no exceptions and no requests (other than that the jury could take all the exhibits). And the criticized use by the Judge of the word "admissions” came in the course of answering notes from the jury; at the end of the answer, which included instructions as to the definition of robbery, etc., the defendant’s attorney stated "I find your instructions satisfactory.” Perhaps the attorney was referring only to the instructions as to the definition of robbery, etc. But he surely was not objecting to the court’s use of the word "admissions”, or requesting limiting instructions. In the absence of objection or request, our power to review the claimed errors is to be exercised only "As a matter of discretion in the interest of justice” (CPL 470.15, subd 3, par [c]). We should "decline to exercise that power on the present record where the proof overwhelmingly established the guilt of defendant of the crime for which he was convicted” (People v Jones, 32 AD2d 1069, 1070). The integrity of the trial process and the needs of our overburdened criminal justice system require us not to order new trials for alleged errors which nobody at the trial thought were erroneous but which are afterthoughts in the appellate process. (2) We are not dealing with the admissibility of the statements made by defendant to his psychiatrist. Concededly that evidence was admissible at least on the issue of mental capacity. We are dealing rather with the reference by the prosecutor in summation to these statements as admissions of guilt, and the Judge’s use of the word "admissions”, to which I have referred. Thus the jury, in any event, heard and was entitled to hear the evidence of the defendant’s statements to the psychiatrist that he had committed the crimes. And defendant’s attorney cross-examined the psychiatrist about these statements so that they again were called to the jury’s attention. As to the Judge’s remarks in using the word "admissions”, he was not himself characterizing the evidence. He was merely following the usual practice of Trial Judges in giving an answer to a jury’s question, to precede the answer by some identification of the question, usually by reading the question. That is what the Judge did here; he was reading the jury’s question almost verbatim, including the use of the jury’s word "admission” in the course of its question. And the prosecutor’s statement in summation, while addressed to the issue of guilt, was a passing reference (in the course of a 700-page record) to the effect that the defense was not pushing the issue of identification all too strongly "after all, what are you going to do with the defendant’s admission to the doctor on these particular points.” (3) In fact, the jury exercised considerable discrimination. Of the two crimes here involved which the defendant told his psychiatrist he had committed, the jury convicted on one and disagreed on the other. On the robbery of which he was convicted and of which he spoke to the psychiatrist, the proof was quite overwhelming including the defendant being caught in hot pursuit, immediately identified, with unusual appearance and distinctive garments and a T-shirt with a distinctive legend on it, and having in his possession in a separate pocket not in his wallet the exact sum stolen from the victim, and with an admission to the police officer—all this without regard to the statement to the psychiatrist. (4) One of the robberies of which the defendant was convicted was in no way involved in the statements of the psychia[528]*528trist and it is

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Related

People v. Wilkins
65 N.Y. 172 (New York Court of Appeals, 1985)
People v. Wilkins
101 A.D.2d 957 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1984)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
64 A.D.2d 526, 406 N.Y.S.2d 800, 1978 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 12271, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-finn-nyappdiv-1978.