State v. Counts

816 P.2d 1157, 311 Or. 616, 1991 Ore. LEXIS 54
Oregon Supreme Court·Decided August 1, 1991·No. CC C88-08-35588; CA A60040; SC S37272·Published·Cited by 11 cases

Opinions

[618] VAN HOOMISSEN, J.

The issue in this criminal case is whether the affirmative defense of mental disease or defect, ORS 161.295(1),1 and the affirmative defense of extreme emotional disturbance, ORS 163.135(1),2 are mutually exclusive.3 The trial court ruled that the defenses are mutually exclusive. The Court of Appeals affirmed. State v. Counts, 101 Or App 439, 790 P2d 1209 (1990). We hold that the defenses are not mutually exclusive and, therefore, we reverse.

Defendant waived his right to a jury trial and the court tried this case on stipulated facts. Defendant took a gun from his closet and shot his wife in the head while she was sleeping. Defendant put the gun in his wife’s hand, dialed “911,” and reported that she had committed suicide. Later, defendant told the police that he had killed his wife because he believed that she was trying to kill him and his dogs. He said he believed this because there was a spot on his arm where he thought his wife had given him an injection of [619] poison, because his cigarettes “tasted real funny,” because a soft drink he had been drinking tasted strange, because, when he walked by his wife’s bedroom, he thought he heard her whisper “die, die,” and because he believed that she had taken out an insurance policy on his life.4 Defendant was charged with intentional murder. ORS 163.115(1)(a).5

In preparation for trial, defendant timely filed notices of intent to rely on the affirmative defenses of mental disease or defect and extreme emotional disturbance. See ORS 161.309(3) (notice required to introduce evidence of insanity); ORS 163.135(3) (notice required to introduce evidence of extreme emotional disturbance). Psychiatric evaluations conducted at the request of defense counsel and the state indicated that defendant suffered from an “organic delusional syndrome” and a “paranoid disorder.” A psychiatrist retained by the state reported:

“[Defendant] is clearly psychotic and in all likelihood was so at the time of the commission of the crime with which he is charged. I do believe that he did suffer from a mental defect at the time of the commission of the crime and that the defect rendered him incapable of appreciating the criminality of his conduct. I further believe that he committed the alleged homicide under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance and that the disturbance was not the result of his own intentional, knowing, reckless or criminal neglect. The explanation appears to be chronic paranoid state with continuing psychosis.”

At trial, the focus of the discussion was on whether defendant could rely on both the mental disease or defect and extreme emotional disturbance defenses. Defendant argued that he could rely on both defenses and that both had been proved. The state conceded that defendant had proved the defense of mental disease or defect, but argued that defendant had not proved the defense of extreme emotional [620] disturbance.6 The state argued that defendant should be found guilty except for insanity of intentional murder.

The trial court held that the defenses are mutually exclusive. More precisely, the court held that upon a defendant’s proof of the mental disease or defect defense, the trier of fact is precluded from considering the mitigating factor of extreme emotional disturbance. The court then found that defendant had proved the defense of mental disease or defect and entered a judgment that defendant was guilty except for insanity of intentional murder. ORS 161.319; ORS 161.325(2)(a). The Court of Appeals affirmed. State v. Counts, supra, 101 Or App at 442-43.

In a case where a defendant asserts the defense of mental disease or defect under ORS 161.295(1), before a trier of fact may find the defendant “guilty except for insanity” of a crime, the defendant must first be found “guilty” of that crime.7 This conclusion is supported by the plain language of ORS 161.295(1), its legislative history, and this court’s case law.

ORS 161.295(1) provides:

“A person is guilty except for insanity if, as a result of mental disease or defect at the time of engaging in criminal conduct, the person lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality of the conduct or to conform the conduct to the requirements of law." (Emphasis added.)

The form of the verdict, “guilty except for insanity,” implies that the trier of fact’s initial inquiry is one of criminal culpability. A trial court, when appropriate, has always asked a jury if it found the defendant “guilty,” “not guilty,” or “guilty except for insanity” (or some verbal variation of the third option). See Leland v. Oregon, 343 US 790, 793-94, 72 S [621] Ct 1002, 96 L Ed 1302, reh’g den 344 US 848 (1952) (recognizing this method). In such a case, if the state did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed a crime or if the defendant proved a complete defense to the crime, then regardless of the defendant’s sanity, the proper verdict was “not guilty.”

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State v. Counts, 816 P.2d 1157, 311 Or. 616, 1991 Ore. LEXIS 54 (Or. 1991).

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816 P.2d 1157 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1991)