State v. Herrera

1999 UT 64, 993 P.2d 854, 372 Utah Adv. Rep. 26, 1999 Utah LEXIS 99, 1999 WL 430510
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedJune 29, 1999
Docket980145
StatusPublished
Cited by41 cases

This text of 1999 UT 64 (State v. Herrera) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Herrera, 1999 UT 64, 993 P.2d 854, 372 Utah Adv. Rep. 26, 1999 Utah LEXIS 99, 1999 WL 430510 (Utah 1999).

Opinions

RUSSON, Justice:

¶ 1 This is the second time this case has come before this court. The first time, Tomas Herrera challenged Utah’s insanity defense statute, Utah Code Ann. § 76-2-305(1), as being unconstitutional on its face. We denied Herrera’s facial challenges and remanded his case for trial. See State v. Herrera, 895 P.2d 359, 363-71 (Utah 1995). After remand, Herrera entered conditional pleas of guilty and mentally ill to two counts of attempted murder. Herrera now appeals his conviction and sentence for those two counts. Herrera contends that the Utah statutes governing both the defense of insanity and the criminal liability of mentally ill offenders who do not qualify for an insanity defense are unconstitutional as applied to him and on their face.

[857]*857BACKGROUND

¶ 2 Shortly after midnight on June 6,1991, Herrera entered the home of his ex-girlfriend Claudia Martinez. Herrera went into Claudia’s bedroom and, after a brief struggle, shot her twice in the head, killing her. As he left Claudia’s bedroom, Herrera encountered her mother Rosa in the hallway. Rosa immediately turned and ran into her son’s bedroom. Herrera pursued and, once inside the room, shot at Rosa, barely missing her. Herrera then turned to her son Reuben, who was in bed, and said, “Now you’re going to go.” Herrera fired two shots at Reuben at point-blank range, both of which also missed. Herrera tried again to fire the gun, but it was out of bullets.

¶3 Police officers arrested Herrera soon after the shootings. After waiving his Miranda rights, Herrera told the officers that while driving around, something “snapped” within him and he decided to go to the Martinez house and shoot Claudia. Herrera admitted to killing Claudia and shooting at Rosa and Reuben. The State charged Herrera with one count of murder and two counts of attempted murder. See Utah Code Ann. §§ 76-5-203, 76-4-101.

¶4 In response to these charges, Herrera pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. In conjunction with his plea, Herrera challenged the constitutionality of Utah Code Ann. § 76-2-305(1), the statute governing the availability of the insanity defense in Utah, which provides:

It is a defense to a prosecution under any statute or ordinance that the defendant, as a result of mental illness, lacked the mental state required as an element of the offense charged. Mental illness is not otherwise a defense.

Utah Code Ann. § 76-2-305(1) (1995). This statute was enacted in 1983. See 1983 Utah Laws ch. 49, § 1. It abolished the prior version of Utah’s insanity defense, which allowed defendants to avoid criminal liability if, at the time of the proscribed conduct, mental disease or defect prevented them from appreciating the wrongfulness of their actions or conforming their conduct to the law. See 1973 Utah Laws ch. 196, § 76-2-305. Herrera asserted that since revised section 76-2-305 permits a defense of insanity only when defendants lacked the mental state required as an element of the offense charged (the “mens rea” of the crime1), the statute is facially unconstitutional2 because it (1) violates due process, (2) improperly relieves the prosecution of its burden of proof, (3) runs afoul of equal protection, and (4) violates restrictions against cruel and unusual punishment. In addition, Herrera argued that the mental examination procedures in Utah Code Ann. § 77-14-4,3 which are a prerequisite to an insanity plea, contravened his federal and state rights against self-incrimination.

¶ 5 The trial court rejected Herrera’s arguments and upheld revised section 76-2-305, concluding that the statute does not violate due process or equal protection, nor does it relieve the State of its burden of proof. The trial court also ruled that the compelled examination statute does not offend rights against self-incrimination. The trial court, however, did not address Herrera’s claims of cruel and unusual punishment, ruling instead that Herrera lacked standing to make such claims since he had not yet been convicted of any crime, let alone sentenced.

[858]*858¶ 6 Herrera petitioned this court for interlocutory review, and in State v. Herrera, 895 P.2d 359 (Utah 1995) (“Herrera I ”), we affirmed the trial court’s rulings rejecting Herrera’s arguments that the challenged statutes are facially unconstitutional. See id. at 363-69. In affirming the trial court’s holding that section 77-14-4 did not violate Herrera’s right against self-incrimination, we imposed certain restrictions on use of the information obtained from the mental examinations. See id. at 370-71. We also upheld the trial court’s determination that Herrera lacked standing to assert his claims of cruel and unusual punishment. See id. at 371. Accordingly, we remanded Herrera’s case for trial. See id.

¶7 Upon remand, Herrera’s counsel arranged for Dr. Breck Lebegue, an expert forensic psychiatrist, to evaluate Herrera and assess his mental state at the time of the shootings. Dr. Lebegue had examined Herrera on several occasions immediately following the shootings and agreed to do so again. On the basis of all the examinations and his review of Herrera’s mental health records, Dr. Lebegue submitted a report concluding that when Herrera killed Claudia, he lacked the mens rea for murder and therefore qualified for the insanity defense under revised section 76-2-305. Specifically, Dr. Lebegue found that Herrera suffered from Capgras Syndrome, a form of paranoid schizophrenia manifested by delusions of substitution and auditory hallucinations. Dr. Lebegue reported that Herrera’s psychosis and delusional belief system led him to believe that the Mafia had replaced Claudia with a nonhuman double and, therefore, when he shot Claudia, “he believed he was killing a form that was not a human being.” Dr. Lebegue also stated that Herrera probably would require confinement for life because his illness is lifelong and he is dangerous even when medicated.

¶ 8 In light of Dr. Lebegue’s evaluations, the State stipulated that pursuant to revised section 76-2-305, Herrera was not guilty by reason of insanity of Claudia’s murder because, when he shot her, he did not knowingly and intentionally cause the death of a human being and, thus, lacked the mens rea for murder. The trial court accepted the stipulated plea and, on October 17, 1996, entered its “Finding of Not Guilty By Reason of Insanity” as to the count of murder. The court ordered Herrera committed to the Utah State Hospital.4

¶ 9 In Dr.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1999 UT 64, 993 P.2d 854, 372 Utah Adv. Rep. 26, 1999 Utah LEXIS 99, 1999 WL 430510, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-herrera-utah-1999.