Riley v. State

830 S.W.2d 584, 1992 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 57, 1992 WL 55269
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas·Decided March 25, 1992·No. 231-91·Published·Cited by 50 cases

Opinions

OPINION ON STATE’S PETITION FOR DISCRETIONARY REVIEW

BAIRD, Judge.

Appellant was convicted of aggravated sexual assault and the jury assessed punishment at confinement for life. The Court of Appeals reversed the judgment of the trial court. Riley v. State, 802 S.W.2d 909 (Tex.App.—Fort Worth 1991). The State filed a petition for discretionary review. We will affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals.

The central issue presented is whether the trial judge correctly instructed the jury on the issue of appellant's sanity at the time of the commission of the alleged offense. If we conclude the trial judge’s instruction was incorrect, we must determine whether the Court of Appeals conducted a proper harm analysis. See, Al[585]*585manza v. State, 686 S.W.2d 157 (Tex.Cr.App.1984).1

I.

The sufficiency of the evidence is not challenged, therefore, we will not recite the evidence developed at trial other than to note that the parties agree that appellant had previously been adjudicated insane by a court of another jurisdiction. Riley, 802 S.W.2d at 910.

Insanity is an affirmative defense, which means the defendant has the burden of proving his insanity by a preponderance of the evidence.2 See, Tex.Penal Code Ann. § 2.04. As a general rule the State has no obligation to bring forward evidence which establishes the defendant was sane at the time of the commission of the alleged offense. However, an exception to that general rule exists whenever the defendant has previously been adjudicated insane and such adjudication has not been vacated. In that situation, there is a presumption that the insanity continues and the burden is upon the State to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant was sane at the time of the alleged offense.3 Manning v. State, 730 S.W.2d 744, 746 (Tex.Cr.App.1987) and cases cited therein; Morris v. State, 744 S.W.2d 290, 294 (Tex.App.—Corpus Christi 1987). Therefore, in the instant case, the State had the burden of proving appellant com mitted a criminal offense, beyond a reasonable doubt, and also that appellant was sane at the time of the commission of that offense, beyond a reasonable doubt.

The jury charge began by setting forth the elements of the charged offense of aggravated sexual assault and the lesser included offense of aggravated assault. Then on the issue of appellant’s sanity, the trial judge instructed the jury as follows:

It is an affirmative defense to prosecution that, at the time of the conduct charged, the defendant, as a result of severe mental disease or defect, did not know that his conduct was wrong.
The term “mental disease or defect” does not include an abnormality manifested only by repeated criminal or otherwise anti-social conduct.
The burden of proof is on the State to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that at the time of the conduct charged the defendant was sane; that is, that he was not suffering from a severe mental disease or defect rendering him unable to know that his conduct was wrong.
Therefore, if you find and believe from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the offense of aggravated sexual assault as alleged in the indictment, or the lesser included offense of aggravated assault as herein-before charged, but you further find, or have a reasonable doubt thereof, that at the time of the conduct charged, [appellant], as a result of a severe mental disease or defect, did not know that his conduct was wrong, you will acquit the defendant and say by your verdict “not guilty by reason of insanity”.

Appellant’s timely objection to the foregoing instruction was overruled. The Court of Appeals agreed with appellant’s position which was described as follows:

We are persuaded that the court’s charge is ambiguous with regard to the word “sane” and its legal definition to the degree that a jury could be confused as to who had the burden of proof on the issue of insanity. In an attempt to remedy this ambiguity, Riley requested the [586]*586court charge the jury in a manner that would insure consistency with regard to the word “sane” and its legal definition. Specifically, Riley urged the court to include either the word “sane,” or alternatively, a legal definition thereof, in both the charging [abstract] and application paragraphs. This, Riley urged, would clarify the confusion created by use of dissimilar wording in the charging [abstract] and application paragraphs of the charge....

Riley, 802 S.W.2d at 910.

The State argues that, since appellant had been previously adjudicated insane, the burden shifted to the State to prove appellant’s sanity beyond a reasonable doubt. Consequently, the State contends, the issue of insanity was converted into a defense to prosecution and Tex.Penal Code Ann. § 2.03 applied. Therefore, the instruction requiring the jury to acquit if it believed appellant was insane or if it had a reasonable doubt thereof, properly placed the burden of proof on the State and was not erroneous.

In support of its argument, the State relies on our holding in Luck v. State, 588 S.W.2d 371 (Tex.Cr.App.1979). Luck was a murder case where the defendant complained that the jury charge was erroneous because it did not inform the jury that the State had to disprove that the defendant acted in self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt. See, § 2.03, supra. In Luck we rejected the defendant’s argument and held:

In the instant case, the charge of the court required the jury to acquit appellant if they believed that he was acting in self-defense or the jury had a reasonable doubt thereof. The court further instructed the jury that the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt was on the State. Lastly, the court instructed the jury on the presumption of innocence.
Clearly, when the charge is viewed as a whole, it placed the burden on the State to show beyond a reasonable doubt that appellant was not acting in self-defense. We find that the trial court did not err in overruling appellant’s objection to the charge on self-defense. No error is shown.

Luck, 588 S.W.2d at 375.

The State reasons that since the paragraph immediately preceding the application paragraph properly set forth the State’s burden of proof on the issue of appellant’s sanity, the jury charge, when read as a whole, is not erroneous. We disagree for three reasons.

First, this case is distinguishable from Luck because the State had the burden of proving sanity, not the burden of disproving insanity.

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Riley v. State, 830 S.W.2d 584, 1992 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 57, 1992 WL 55269 (Tex. 1992).

830 S.W.2d 584 (Riley v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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