State v. Whisenant

175 So. 2d 293, 247 La. 988, 247 La. 987, 1965 La. LEXIS 1959
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedMay 3, 1965
DocketNo. 47569
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 175 So. 2d 293 (State v. Whisenant) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Whisenant, 175 So. 2d 293, 247 La. 988, 247 La. 987, 1965 La. LEXIS 1959 (La. 1965).

Opinion

HAMITER, Justice.

The defendant, Arlen Whisenant, was charged in a hill of information with armed robbery, it being alleged therein that the crime was committed on or about May 9, 1963.

Before any formal proceedings on the information were conducted Mr. Hunter Pierson, a member of the Rapides Parish Bar, was assigned by the court to represent the defendant. In passing, we take the liberty of observing that he has ably performed his assignment.

On May 17, 1963 the defense moved for and obtained the appointment of a sanity commission which, on May 31, 1963, investigated into defendant’s “present” mental condition and also that at the time of the commission of the offense.

Subsequently, the commission filed its report, it being to the effect that the defendant was presently insane and was insane at the time of the occurrence of the crime. Whereupon, he was adjudged presently insane and committed to the East Louisiana State Hospital at Jackson.

Thereafter, in October, 1963, following a report from the doctors at such hospital that defendant was then sane, a second hearing was held relative to his present sanity. As a result thereof he was adjudged presently sane and remanded for trial.

Upon arraignment, the defendant pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

Later, he was tried by a jury of twelve, found guilty as charged, and, after the overruling of his motion for a new trial, was sentenced to serve fifteen years in the State Penitentiary. From such conviction and sentence this appeal was perfected.

The principal facts and circumstances surrounding the commission of the crime are as follows: For a number of years (apparently throughout his sixteen years of married life) the defendant was in financial difficulties. On or about May 9, 1963 he decided to rob the MacArthur Village Branch of the Guaranty Bank and Trust Company of Alexandria. In leaving his home that morning he told his wife that he was going to pay some bills. Later, she found him in a barroom drinking beer. When she threatened him with the statement that she intended to call the judge he left the barroom with her, together with their five children, and drove around the City of Alexandria in his automobile. While on this drive he stopped the car, went into a business establishment known as the Security Company, and purchased (in the fictitious name of George Wells) a .22 caliber pistol and ammunition for it. [994]*994He did ¿not and would not tell his wife what he had bought (it was in a paper bag). He then drove to a service station, went into its rest room, loaded the pistol, and put it in his pocket.

After reentering the vehicle he went with his wife and family to the bank, at which place he (after alighting) told them that he was going to make a loan and suggested that they meet him “after a while” at the Cabrini Hospital. It was then about noon.

On his entering the bank its manager, Jack R. Wilder, was conferring with a customer; so the defendant waited until the conference was concluded. He then ap^ proached the manager, stating that he wanted to make a loan.

As they sat at the banker’s desk, and when the loan application was about completed, the defendant pulled the gun from his pocket and demanded money. The sum of $11,750, all in paper currency, was taken by the manager from a teller’s cage and given to him in a cloth sack.

Thereupon, the defendant forced Wilder to leave the bank and to drive off in the latter’s car with him, he warning the other employees not to call the police or he would kill their manager.

When a short distance from the Cabrini Hospital he compelled Wilder to get out of the automobile. He then drove Wilder’s car to the hospital where, after entering it, he went to the expectant father’s waiting room on the second floor, wrapped the cloth sack containing the money in a newspaper, put his name on the package, placed it on top of the radio (or television), and walked to the hospital’s first floor for coffee.

The police having been alerted, defendant was apprehended shortly thereafter. Immediately, he admitted his perpetration of the robbery and showed the officers where he had left the money.

Subsequently (on the same day), he gave a detailed, written account of his actions. It covered twenty-six pages, was admitted into evidence, and was considered by the jury.

During the course of the trial the defense introduced the report of the lunacy commission which, as we have heretofore noted, declared that the defendant was insane at the time of the commission of the crime. Thereafter, the individual members of such commission were called and questioned at length by the court, by counsel for defendant, and by the state’s attorney.

This appeal presents only a single issue, the defendant having perfected but one bill of exceptions which was based on the refusal of the trial judge to grant his motion for a new trial. While such motion sets forth that several alleged irregularities occurred during the course of the trial, defendant has affirmatively abandoned all of [996]*996them except one, it being “ * * * that said verdict is contrary to the law and the evidence in that the state failed to present any evidence tending to show the sanity of the accused at the time of the offense to rebut the prima facie correctness of the report of the Lunacy Commission established under Article 425 of the Criminal [Code of] Procedure; that the state, failing to present such evidence as a matter of law, failed to prove a substantial element of the crime.” (Brackets ours)

LRS 15 :425 (cited by defense counsel as Article 425 of the Louisiana Criminal Code of Procedure) provides: “The report of every commission of lunacy shall be prima facie evidence of the facts recited in such report and of the correctness of the findings of such commission.”

Counsel for the defendant concede (as indeed they must in view of our settled jurisprudence) that the defense of insanity at the time of the commission of the crime presents a question of fact relating to the guilt or innocence of the accused to be determined by the jury. See State v. Eisenhardt et al., 185 La. 308, 169 So. 417, State v. Sample, 203 La. 841, 14 So.2d 678, State v. Basco, 216 La. 365, 43 So.2d 761, State v. Dowdy et al., 217 La. 773, 774, 47 So.2d 496, State v. Swails, 226 La. 441, 76 So.2d 523, and State v. Chinn, 229 La. 984, 87 So.2d 315.

Further, such counsel recognize that generally there is a legal presumption of sanity and a defendant has the burden of rebutting it by a preponderance of the evidence. However, they argue that, pursuant to the provisions of LRS 15:425, the finding of the lunacy commission in the instant case overcame that presumption of sanity and established, prima facie, defendant’s insanity at the time of the alleged offense; and that there is no evidence in the record which would rebut this prima facie showing. They contend, in other words, that there was no evidence tending to show (or from which the jury could conclude) that the defendant was sane.

It is our established jurisprudence that (when a defendant offers the contention that there was no evidence to support his conviction) this court cannot weigh, or pass upon the sufficiency of, the evidence, such function being solely the prerogative of the trier of facts — in this case the jury. All that we can do is to examine the record to determine whether there was any admissible evidence at all upon which the jury could have predicated its verdict.

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Bluebook (online)
175 So. 2d 293, 247 La. 988, 247 La. 987, 1965 La. LEXIS 1959, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-whisenant-la-1965.