Schissler v. State

99 N.W. 593, 122 Wis. 365, 1904 Wisc. LEXIS 141
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 27, 1904
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 99 N.W. 593 (Schissler v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Schissler v. State, 99 N.W. 593, 122 Wis. 365, 1904 Wisc. LEXIS 141 (Wis. 1904).

Opinion

The following opinion was filed May 10, 1904:

SiebeceeR, J.

The verdict in the special issue of insanity is assailed upon the ground that it is not supported by the evidence. It is asserted that the proof is insufficient to support the finding of sanity under the statutory provision requiring that if there be a reasonable doubt of the sanity of the accused he shall be found not guilty for that reason. The claim is that the evidence as to the sanity of the accused proved that he received a serious injury on his head in the year 1891; that he was affected with epileptic seizures from the time of such injury to the time in question; that such attacks increased in frequency and severity from time to time, impairing his mental faculties and blunting his moral powers; that the affliction made him irritable and easily aroused to anger by any «light cause; and that the seizures were accompanied by loss of memory and a want of consciousness of his acts, followed by a state of drowsiness and stupor lasting for hours. It is •contended that the evidence of these facts and the opinions of the experts thereon showed clearly that he was affected with ■epileptic insanity and was irresponsible for his acts at the time he shot the deceased, and that a doubt of his sanity was thereby so clearly shown that the court should have so held •as a matter of Taw.

It is true that considerable evidence was adduced upon the trial tending to establish these claims, but there was also much evidence in conflict therewith, which directly contradicted the evidence upon which these conclusions of fact are [372]*372predicated. Besides this direct conflict in the evidence, there' is considerable testimony tending to show that these attacks did not impair his general health and mental faculties nor affect his business capacity and the ability to conduct his business and family affairs; and that his appearance and conduct before and after the homicide revealed nothing to show that he had lost possession of his mental faculties and moral powers. There is also direct and circumstantial evidence controverting the claim that he suffered an epileptic seizure on the evening of November 24th, about two hours before the shooting occurred, and this evidence also tends to show that his health and mind were in their ordinary and normal state. The medical testimony agreed as to the effects of frequent epileptic seizures upon the mind and body, but was sharply in conflict upon the questions whether the ac-. cused was subject to epileptic seizures, and, if subject to them, whether it had affected his mind, and whether the accused was in fact insane at the time of the homicide.

The special issue was submitted to the jury upon this conflict of the proof. Upon, an examination of the evidence, we are led to the conclusion that it clearly presents a case which required the submission of the special issue to the jury. The trial court also ruled correctly in holding that the jury were justified by the evidence in finding that the plaintiff in error was sane at the time of the commission of the offense charged.

Error is assigned because the court permitted the testimony of a number of witnesses to be received showing the character of and the manner in which the plaintiff in error conducted his business during the period between 1895 and 1898. This, testimony was to the effect that he was engaged in the saloon business in the city of Milwaukee; that his place of business was frequented by women of ill repute, and that he kept them there for immoral purposes; that he was.prosecuted for such violations of the law; that his wife was an inmate of his house, and had been arrested as such; and that while he was. [373]*373Tinder arrest lie married her for the purpose of making her an incompetent witness in the case against him. Suck evidence would ordinarily be incompetent upon the trial for a criminal charge, but this plaintiff in error presented matters in his defense upon the trial-of the special issue which made this testimony peculiarly pertinent and material. He introduced evidence, over objection, to support the claim that he entertained unusual affection and devotion toward his wife and child; that he was ignorant of any fact which should cause him to question her fidelity to her marriage vow; that when he learned the facts of' her conduct on the evening before the homicide, casting a suspicion upon her faithfulness to her marital obligation, it so shocked and disturbed him as to cause an epileptic seizure, resulting in epileptic insanity, which continued to the time of the homicide and beyond, thus rendering him irresponsible for the act. It is asserted that this evidence disclosing his business and early family affairs could have no bearing upon the mental condition of the accused, and could serve no purpose other than to abase him in the minds of the court and the jury. The evidence, showing his unceasing and unusual devotion to his wife, and the want of any grounds for suspecting her fidelity, must have been offered for the purpose of showing that he was so shocked at her conduct on the previous day and evening as to subject him to a severe epileptic seizure, and thereby induce the insanity under which he is said to have committed the act. The evidence of the state sought to be excluded under this exception clearly tended to explain and contradict the evidence offered in his behalf. If the jury found the evidence of the state on this subject to be true, it directly tended to refute the claim that he had no ground for suspecting her*capable of any wrongful conduct, and that such information would be likely to so shock his mind as to produce mental derangement and consequent irresponsibility for his acts. The evidence was material in view of the proof produced by the plaintiff in [374]*374error on the special issue as to his mental condition at the time in question, and was therefore properly received and submitted to the jury.

Excejition was taken to hypothetical questions propounded on the part of the state to witnesses called as experts on the subject of insanity. The objections to these questions were threefold in their nature, namely, that the question so submitted and permitted to be answered failed to embrace substantially all the material facts in evidence relating to the subject on which the opinions of the witnesses were asked; that the questions embodied immaterial matters, which had no bearing on the mental condition of the accused, thereby misleading the jury into the belief that such immaterial evidence was relevant and important in determining the question of sanity; and, further, that the form of the questions was defective in failing to state clearly that all of the eviden-tiary facts covered by the questions were assumed as established for the purpose of eliciting the witnesses’ opinions.

The questions thus attacked embraced a series of eviden-tiary facts adduced by the testimony, and are too long to permit of restatement in this place, but an examination of them shows that all the elements of the questions had been adduced in evidence, and that they are not subject to the criticism that they fail to assume as true the facts covered, nor as including matter immaterial to the inquiry which caused the jury to misapply or give improper consideration to some of the evi-dentiary facts.

The other objection, namely, that the hypothetical questions failed to embrace substantially all of the material facts relating to the subject upon which the opinion is asked is not well founded under the rules governing opinion testimony.

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Bluebook (online)
99 N.W. 593, 122 Wis. 365, 1904 Wisc. LEXIS 141, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schissler-v-state-wis-1904.