State v. Steelman

585 P.2d 1213, 120 Ariz. 301, 1978 Ariz. LEXIS 269
CourtArizona Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 13, 1978
Docket3299
StatusPublished
Cited by62 cases

This text of 585 P.2d 1213 (State v. Steelman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Arizona 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. Steelman, 585 P.2d 1213, 120 Ariz. 301, 1978 Ariz. LEXIS 269 (Ark. 1978).

Opinion

CAMERON, Chief Justice.

Defendant, Willie Luther Steelman, was charged in two indictments by a Pima County grand jury with one count of burglary, A.R.S. § 13-302; one count of kidnapping for robbery with a gun, A.R.S. §§ 13-491, 492; two counts of robbery armed with a gun, A.R.S. §§ 13-641, 643(B); and two counts of first degree murder, A.R.S. §§ 13-451, 452, 453. The defendant was tried in Apache County and a jury found him guilty of all charges on 23 July 1975. On 27 August 1975, the trial court entered a judgment of guilt on all charges and the defendant received the following sentences: not less than 10 nor more than 15 years imprisonment in the state prison on the burglary conviction; not less than 46 nor more than 50 years imprisonment in the state prison for the kidnapping conviction; not less than 25 nor more than 30 years imprisonment in the state prison on each robbery conviction; and the death penalty for each murder conviction. Notice of appeal in this court was filed by the Clerk of the Court in Apache County. A.R.S. § 13-1711; Rule 26.15, Rules of Criminal Procedure, 17 A.R.S.

The issues presented for consideration are:

1. Whether certain statements made by defendant to police officers were involuntary and should have been suppressed.
2. Whether the M’Naghten test for insanity was the proper test of criminal responsibility in light of (a) A.R.S. § 13-135 which exempts lunatics, (b) the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and (c) the protections conferred by the Four *305 teenth Amendment to the Constitution.
3. Whether the motion' under Rule 11, Rules of Criminal Procedure, 17 A.R.S., made by defendant’s counsel during the trial should have been granted.
4. Whether two of the State’s psychiatrists should have been prohibited from testifying because the information upon which they relied was obtained under the doctor-patient privilege or in violation of the defendant’s privilege against self-incrimination and his right to counsel.
5. Whether certain medical testimony was based on incompetent evidence or was a violation of the defendant’s right to confront witnesses under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
6. Whether a psychiatrist called by the defense should have been allowed to testify in surrebuttal to the State’s rebuttal to the insanity defense.
7. Whether the defendant’s insanity defense was rendered impotent because the surrebuttal witness was excluded and the State’s psychiatrists were allowed to testify.
8. Is the Arizona death penalty statute, as construed, contrary to the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution?

The events leading up to the acts which form the basis of the charges in the instant matter are not in serious dispute and are part of a series of incidents which began in the late summer of 1973 when defendant Steelman left California for Denver, Colorado. In Denver, Steelman began to associate with one Douglas Gretzler. Steelman and Gretzler came to Phoenix, Arizona, in the fall of 1973 where a murder for hire resulted in the death of an accomplice named “Preacher” as well as the victims.

After this, Steelman and Gretzler kidnapped two young men and took them and their van to California where they killed them, stripped their bodies and placed them in some bushes near the road. Steelman and Gretzler later abandoned the van, obtained another vehicle, and drove back to Arizona. On the way back, they picked up a hitchhiker and killed him, together with two others who might have been able to give information regarding the kidnapping.

Steelman and Gretzler then went to Tucson where Steelman killed one Willie Sierra at a point near Gates Pass. They took money from the victim and used it to buy drugs which they used at a “crash pad” where they stayed for several days.

Then commenced a series of events on which the present convictions are based. Steelman and Gretzler were hitchhiking in the general vicinity of the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. On Euclid Avenue between Grant and Speedway, they were picked up by Vincent Armstrong, a former Tucson police officer who was then a student at the University of Arizona. Steelman climbed into the back of Armstrong’s 1969 Firebird and Gretzler got into the front on the passenger’s side. Once the car began to move, Steelman thrust a gun at Armstrong’s ribs and began to instruct him to drive north toward the desert. Armstrong then acted frightened and told them he was too nervous to drive. On Steelman’s direction, Armstrong pulled the car over into a church parking lot and crawled over the console while Gretzler walked around to the driver’s side. Once the car began to move again and had reached about 30 or 35 miles per hour, Armstrong dove out, rolled over on the ground, picked himself up and began to run in the direction opposite the one taken by the car. Armstrong escaped and notified the police.

Steelman and Gretzler were next seen by James Nelson, sales manager of the Villa Pariso condominiums on Fort Lowell Road, who observed them in the Firebird driving slowly down the street as though looking for an address. Nelson later saw them on the grounds of the complex and, as he testified, assumed that they were workmen working on the still uncompleted complex. Nelson encountered them again as he completed his daily inspection tour; this time they asked him where the Sandbergs lived. *306 The Sandbergs lived in one of the four or five occupied units of the complex so Nelson directed them to that condominium.

Rather than going to the Sandberg home, Steelman and Gretzler accosted a man they saw in the parking lot who was washing his car. The man was Michael Sandberg whose home they had inquired about earlier (apparently by coincidence). After Steelman displayed a gun he was carrying, Sandberg led the way back to his condominium. On the way they again encountered Nelson who greeted Sandberg warmly. Sandberg made very little, if any, reply which Nelson testified was completely out of character for Sandberg who was generally outgoing and cheerful. Nelson said that he came to within three feet of Steelman and Gretzler in a face-to-face encounter and was able to identify them.

The three men went into the Sandberg condominium where Sandberg’s wife Pat was studying. Steelman and Gretzler first set about to change their appearance. With Pat Sandberg’s assistance, Gretzler dyed his hair a darker shade. Steelman shaved his mustache and redid his hair. Steelman and Gretzler exchanged their “grubby” jeans and tee shirts for Michael Sandberg’s slacks and sport coats.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
585 P.2d 1213, 120 Ariz. 301, 1978 Ariz. LEXIS 269, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-steelman-ariz-1978.