Cate v. State

Citation644 N.E.2d 546
Decision Date14 December 1994
Docket NumberNo. 49S00-9308-CR-920,49S00-9308-CR-920
PartiesAndrew CATE, Appellant (Defendant Below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff Below).
CourtSupreme Court of Indiana

Howard Howe, Indianapolis, for appellant.

Pamela Carter, Atty. Gen., Preston W. Black, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellee.

SHEPARD, Chief Justice.

Appellant Andrew Cate was found guilty but mentally ill of murdering his two-year-old daughter, for which he received the maximum sixty-year prison sentence. There is no question that he committed the heinous act. He is also obviously suffering from some degree of mental incapacity.

On direct appeal, Cate challenges his conviction on three grounds. First, Cate asserts that, in the face of "uncontroverted" expert testimony showing his insanity at the time of the murder, the jury's verdict is contrary to law. Second, he claims that the State did not rebut the evidence of his insanity, thereby failing to prove he had the requisite state of mind to be convicted of the offense. Finally, he challenges the introduction of his ex-wife's testimony about communications between them while they were still married. The first issue is an extension of the second, both of which constitute a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence upon which Cate's guilty but mentally ill conviction was based.

I. Cate's Insanity Defense

Persons who cannot appreciate the wrongfulness of their conduct due to some mental disease or defect cannot be held responsible when they break the law. Ind.Code Ann. § 35-41-3-6(a) (West 1986). Still, not all mental conditions are serious enough to relieve one of criminal responsibility. Lyon v. State (1993), Ind., 608 N.E.2d 1368, 1369 ("Mental disorder alone is not enough to excuse a defendant for the perpetration of a crime."). The Indiana Code defines "mental disease or defect" as "a severely abnormal mental condition that grossly and demonstrably impairs a person's perception, but the term does not include an abnormality manifested only by repeated unlawful or antisocial conduct." Ind.Code Ann. § 35-41-3-6(b) (West 1986).

According to Ind.Code § 35-41-4-1, "the burden of proof is on the defendant to establish the defense of insanity (IC 35-41-3-6) by a preponderance of the evidence." In this case, the jury was not satisfied that Cate proved his insanity. Most defendants claiming insanity attempt to satisfy their evidentiary burden by introducing expert testimony, and Cate calls our attention to the unanimous testimony of five doctors supporting his insanity defense. Indeed, each of the mental health professionals who examined Cate, including the State's expert and the court-appointed psychiatrist, agreed that Cate was legally insane at the time he killed his daughter. While such opinions provide a strong justification for raising the insanity defense, we have never held expert testimony to be conclusive. See, e.g., Mayes v. State (1982), Ind., 440 N.E.2d 678. Rather, as we observed in Turner v. State (1981), Ind., 428 N.E.2d 1244, the question is whether the jury's rejection of Cate's insanity defense "was contrary to all the evidence and hence contrary to law." Id. at 1246 (emphasis in original).

While the expert testimony was unanimous, the psychiatrists' assertions about Cate's legal insanity were hardly uncontroverted. The record contains evidence of his lucidity after arrest, demonstrating both an awareness of what he had just done and his deliberation in accomplishing the killing. Furthermore, despite his subsequent claims that he was mimicking the biblical story of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac, Cate had previously denied such a motivation when asked by a coworker within a week of the murder.

Each of the psychiatrists, of course, evaluated Cate after the incident, based on his representations about his motivation on the evening in question. The jurors may have agreed with the prosecution's suggestion that Cate had a strong incentive to lie and could have told his doctors a tall tale to avoid a guilty verdict. We neither know nor can accurately reconstruct the exact reasons Cate was found to be guilty but...

To continue reading

Request your trial
34 cases
  • Galloway v. State, 33S01-1004-CR-163.
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of Indiana
    • May 6, 2011
    ...testimony, however, is merely advisory, and even unanimous expert testimony is not conclusive on the issue of sanity. Cate v. State, 644 N.E.2d 546, 547 (Ind.1994). The trier of fact is free to disregard the unanimous testimony of experts and rely on conflicting testimony by lay witnesses. ......
  • Gambill v. State, 77S00-9507-CR-861
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of Indiana
    • December 18, 1996
    ...by a preponderance her insanity. Not all mental conditions are serious enough to relieve one of criminal responsibility. Cate v. State, 644 N.E.2d 546, 547 (Ind.1994). A diagnosis of mental illness is not in itself a defense to a crime. To rise to the level of a defense, the illness must be......
  • Myers v. State
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of Indiana
    • April 8, 2015
    ...is not determinative where there is conflicting lay opinion testimony or demeanor evidence also presented at trial. See Cate v. State, 644 N.E.2d 546, 547 (Ind.1994) (explaining that this Court has “never held expert testimony to be conclusive”). This Court has addressed several cases where......
  • Galloway v. State Of Ind., 33S01-1004-CR-163
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of Indiana
    • December 22, 2010
    ...testimony, however, is merely advisory, and even unanimous expert testimony is not conclusive on the issue of sanity. Cate v. State, 644 N.E.2d 546, 547 (Ind. 1994). The trier of fact is free to disregard the unanimous testimony of experts and rely on conflicting testimony by lay witnesses.......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT