United States v. Elroy F. Carter

436 F.2d 200, 141 U.S. App. D.C. 46, 1970 U.S. App. LEXIS 8882

• Court: Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
• Decided: June 5, 1970
• Docket: 22912
• Status: Published

Opinions

PER CURIAM:

Found guilty after having waived his right to a jury trial on charges of both robbery (22 D.C.Code § 2901 (Supp. III 1970)) and assault with a dangerous weapon (22 D.C.Code § 502 (1967)), appellant contends before us that the trial court should have granted his motion for a judgment of acquittal upon the ground of mental illness. Without in any way challenging the allegations regarding his participation in the crimes charged, appellant, admittedly a narcotic addict, argues that the evidence of his narcotic addiction, when weighed with the testimony of two psychiatrists and a psychologist called by the appellant, should have compelled the trial judge to grant the motion for judgment of acquittal by reason of insanity.

I.

Prior to trial appellant was committed to St. Elizabeths Hospital, and in due course he was certified competent to stand trial. Three members of the staff at St. Elizabeths who had examined appellant during his confinement there testified at length regarding his mental condition, and he also called as a witness one of the police officers who had observed his condition shortly after his arrest. The trial judge, in ruling upon appellant’s motion for judgment of acquittal, first observed that had there been a jury in the case he would have been required to submit the question of appellant’s mental capacity to that body (Tr. 199) — obviously to determine as a matter of fact whether the evidence established appellant’s capacity beyond a reasonable doubt.

The trial judge thereafter summarized his findings and contusions as to the appellant’s guilt and mental condition. He found:

That the crime [s] charged were committed and that appellant participated in them. (Tr. 200.)

That appellant’s participation was to such an extent that he could be found guilty if there was no causal connection between the crime and the mental disease. (Tr. 200.)

That appellant is suffering from an anxiety reaction and was suffering from an anxiety reaction at the time the crime[s] were committed. (Tr. 199. )

That the anxiety reaction is recognized in psychiatric journals and bulletins as a mental disease. (Tr. 200.)

That the anxiety reaction from which appellant suffered was a “mild” or “moderate” one which permitted the appellant or any other person “in a like situation to exercise control over himself, to restrain himself, and otherwise to function in a normally acceptable way within society.” (Tr. 200. )

That appellant “is and was” a narcotic addict at the time the crime [s] were committed. (Tr. 200.)

That the record was unclear as to whether appellant used drugs to alleviate his anxiety reaction or for some other reason. (Tr. 201.)

That, whatever was the reason for appellant’s narcotic addition, the use of narcotics can under certain circumstances alleviate the anxiety which is the mental disease from which appellant suffered. (Tr. 201.)

That at the time of the perpetration of the crime [s] and although appellant was then suffering from “a mental disease * * * a moderate form of anxiety reaction,” he was nevertheless “a highly intelligent person, he was able to plan, he was able to execute” and he was “capable of refraining from doing the acts which constitute the crime[s].” (Tr. 201-202.)

That at the time appellant committed the crime [s] “he was not suffering any withdrawal symptoms so that there was no compulsive or impulsive situation which caused him to do the acts which constitute the crime [s],” and that “[h]e was able to plan and to execute it, and he was able to refrain [from doing it].” (Tr. 202.)

That the testimony indicated that appellant was at the time of the commission of the offense “high” on drugs, and that “a drug addict who is in such a condition is more capable of controlling his behavior than the average person since the anxiety reaction from which all of us suffer to some degree was completely blanketed by the effect of the drugs.” (Tr. 202.)

From these findings of fact the trial judge concluded that “the crime became one of convenience rather than a crime of necessity.” (Tr. 202.) He rejected, upon the basis of these findings and this conclusion, the theory of appellant that the crime was “tied” to the mental disease.

We have reviewed the entire record of the testimony offered upon the subject of appellant’s mental condition prior to and at the time of the commission of the offenses. With this testimony, as with almost all testimony, it is possible to select excerpts out of context and to argue forcefully in support of any conclusion which the advocate seeks; obviously the trial judge, acting also as the trier of facts in this case, is far more accurate in his appraisal of the credibility of the witnesses and the factual elements establishing truth than we, faced with a cold record, can possibly be. It is, of course, the sole responsibility of the trier of facts to evaluate the testimony of the witnesses and to determine what weight, if any, should be given to the testimony of each witness. This basic principle was forcefully stated by Chief Judge Bazelon in his recent opinion for this court in Adams v. United States, 134 U.S.App.D.C. 137, 142, 413 F.2d 411, 416 (1969) :

The decisions of this jurisdiction have made clear * * * our reluctance to require a directed acquittal for insanity. We have upon occasion refused to find that the Government has not borne its burden even when the evidence of mental illness was un-contradicted. * * * We have emphasized time and again that “in view of the complicated nature of the decision to be made — intertwining moral, legal and medical judgments — ” the insanity defense is peculiarly apt for resolution by the jury. As part of its task, “The jury is free to believe any reasonable ‘estimate’ even though different or contrary views may also be reasonable.”

The Adams decision also makes clear that the governing principles are identical when the court rather than the jury is the trier of fact. (Id.) We cannot say upon the basis of our review of the testimony that the above findings and conclusions are not reasonable or that they are not supported by substantial testimony. We therefore have no authority to ignore or overrule them.

II.

Appellant also challenges his sentence in this case upon the ground that the trial judge should have referred the ease to the Legal Psychiatric Service for presentence evaluation. We noted above that appellant was committed to St. Elizabeths Hospital for mental observation on November 21, 1967 and was reported competent to stand trial on February 20, 1968. These data were before the trial judge at the time of sentencing. During the trial, the presiding judge heard the testimony of several witnesses as to appellant’s mental condition. (Tr. 123-124, 129-154, 160-171, 179-196.) Some six weeks elapsed between the finding of guilt and the imposition of sentence, during which the probation office conducted an investigation and submitted a report which was before the trial judge when sentence was imposed, and which had been “gone over * * * rather carefully.” (Sent. Tr. 4.) In addition, the court considered a sentencing report prepared in appellant’s behalf by the Offender Rehabilitation Project (Sent. Tr. 4), and at the sentencing appellant made no request for further psychiatric examination. Upon the basis of this record we are unable and unwilling to conclude that the trial judge in any way abrogated or abused the discretion residing in him in the imposition of these sentences.

Affirmed.