Barany v. State
| Decision Date | 16 November 1995 |
| Docket Number | No. 92S00-9305-CR-571,92S00-9305-CR-571 |
| Citation | 658 N.E.2d 60 |
| Parties | Istvan L. BARANY, Appellant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee. |
| Court | Indiana Supreme Court |
Appellant was charged with murder. Ind.Code Ann. § 35-42-1-1 (West Supp.1994). A jury found him guilty but mentally ill. Ind.Code Ann. § 35-36-2-3 (West 1986). This case comes to us on direct appeal. Ind.Appellate Rule 4(A)(7). He received a sixty-year sentence. Appellant raises the following issues:
1) whether the verdict is contrary to law because the evidence was overwhelming and uncontroverted that appellant was insane at the time of the killing;
2) whether the jury instructions were improper;
3) whether appellant was denied the effective assistance of counsel; and
4) whether appellant's sentence was improperly enhanced.
Appellant and the victim, Judith Tomlinson, shared a house on Shriner Lake in Whitley County. They had lived together for nearly a decade, in Georgia as well as Indiana. On May 7, 1992, appellant visited his next-door neighbors at Shriner Lake, Steve Waikel and Marla Pfeiffer. Appellant discussed religion in highly abstract, incomprehensible terms and drew some bizarre pictures on a notepad, while telling Pfeiffer that these pictures revealed important relationships in the universe. Waikel attempted to fish on the nearby pier. Appellant accompanied Waikel and continued to offer religious commentary until Waikel went back inside his home to be with Pfeiffer.
A few minutes later, Waikel told Pfeiffer to look at appellant, who was naked and sitting "Indian style" on the end of the pier. They saw Tomlinson come out of the house that she and appellant shared and place a blanket on him. Shortly thereafter, Waikel and Pfeiffer saw the victim run back into the house. Unbeknownst to them, appellant had bitten off Tomlinson's finger and swallowed it. Appellant walked into the water, left the water, and went into the house.
Once inside the house, appellant discovered Tomlinson talking on the telephone. He obtained a handgun from behind the headboard and shot her eight times. He then used a splitting maul to destroy the television, microwave oven, and VCR. He also struck the victim's head and chest with the maul. He then dumped a bag of waste from the vacuum cleaner over the body.
Appellant returned to Waikel and Pfeiffer's home. He had a "distant stare" in his eyes and blood dripping from his mouth. Appellant told Waikel that he had swallowed Tomlinson's finger because it contained an "evil worm." He told Waikel that he had killed "Jude" and that Waikel should kill Pfeiffer because "all women are evil." Appellant told Waikel to go into the house to see the victim. Waikel did and saw that she was dead, with the splitting maul still stuck in her head.
Waikel returned to his home and told Pfeiffer and Valerie Davis, another woman from the neighborhood, to stay inside and call the police. A few minutes later, a police car approached the area. Appellant, still naked and screaming, ran toward the police car, collided with it, and rolled over the hood and off the driver's side of the car. Appellant began fighting with the car's occupant, Deputy Sheriff Engle.
With assistance from a two scuba divers who had been training in the lake, Engle subdued appellant by cuffing his wrists and ankles. Appellant continued to struggle and kick the police car's doors and windows. Finally, the deputy was forced to bind appellant's wrists and ankles together to prevent serious damage to the car and appellant.
The police took appellant to the hospital. In accordance with a search warrant, he was forced to vomit so that the victim's finger could be retrieved. He was catherized and a urine sample was obtained; that sample tested positive for cannabanoids (indicating marijuana use) but negative for alcohol and other drugs. Appellant was extremely uncomfortable and begged to be untied. The police and hospital employees ignored his crying, screaming, and pleading.
Later that day, police officers took appellant to the police station in Columbia City. They unshackled him and placed him in the "rubber room." Approximately three hours later, officers escorted him to the shower where he showered and dressed. He gave a videotaped statement to Detective Stotts of the Indiana State Police. In the statement appellant admitted killing his "common-law wife," the victim.
He remained in the rubber room for the next few days. He sat covered with a blanket, chanted Bible verses, and occasionally stood to preach to an invisible crowd of people. When a female confinement officer opened the cell door, he apologized to her and to "all women." He tore pages from the Bible and stuffed them down the drain. He repeatedly asked those who checked on him if they were "God." He gnawed at the tattoo on his arm and attempted to bite off one of his fingers.
The prosecutor filed murder charges against appellant. Appellant responded by raising the defense of insanity. Three disinterested psychiatrists were appointed to examine appellant. They all concluded that, at the time of the murder, appellant was incapable of appreciating the wrongfulness of his conduct and unable to conform his behavior to the requirements of the law.
Because the facts at trial had been stipulated, the State's case required approximately five minutes. The defense attempted to establish appellant's insanity at the time of the killing. The jury returned a verdict of "guilty but mentally ill." The trial judge, citing lack of remorse, prior criminal record, and the brutality of the crime as aggravating factors, gave appellant the maximum sentence available--sixty years.
Appellant claims that the verdict was contrary to law because the evidence of his insanity was overwhelming and uncontroverted.
The determination of sanity is a question for the trier of fact. The jury is free to disregard the testimony of experts and rely upon that of lay witnesses. Campbell v. State (1989), Ind., 536 N.E.2d 285. Accordingly, the standard of review is a deferential one. We will reverse the trier of fact's determination "only where the evidence is without conflict and leads to but one conclusion and the trier of fact has reached an opposite conclusion...." Green v. State (1984), Ind., 469 N.E.2d 1169, 1171.
In this case, the medical experts were unanimous in concluding that appellant was insane at the time of the killing. However, the State offered testimony from several lay witnesses that indicated that appellant was sane. Indiana State Police Detective Stotts described how, only a few hours after the crime, appellant talked about the victim's complaints and nagging. One of appellant's friends, Chris Brockman, testified as to unusual topics of conversation, such as conspiracies, but indicated that appellant "seemed O.K." In a conversation with his sister, appellant indicated that he believed that the victim was calling the police when he killed her. The jury could have decided that this testimony about appellant's behavior was more indicative of his actual mental health at the time of the killing than medical examinations conducted four weeks after the arrest. Given this conflicting evidence, we will not invade the jury's fact-finding province.
Appellant claims that the trial court gave erroneous instructions to the jury.
Appellant first claims that the jury was misinformed regarding the determination of insanity. Appellant refers to Instruction No. 13, which reads as follows:
In considering the issue of insanity, you may consider the evidence that has been admitted as to the defendant's mental condition before and after the offense charged, as well as the evidence as to the defendant's mental condition on that date. The evidence as to the defendant's mental condition before and after that date was admitted solely for the purpose of assisting you to determine the defendant's condition on the date of the alleged offense.
(emphasis added). Appellant argues that since the jury had been instructed that appellant had the burden of proving by a preponderance of evidence that he was not responsible by reason of insanity at the time of the offense, the instruction should have used the phrase "at the time of the offense" instead of the phrase "on that date."
Appellant analyzes the differences between "at the time of the offense" and "on that date" and concludes that, since there was no evidence of sanity at the time of the offense, the jury must have been misled into believing that they need not determine his mental condition at the exact time of the killing. However, all three psychiatrists directed their testimony to appellant's condition at the time of the killing and appellant's insanity defense was premised solely on his behavior at the time of that killing. Thus, there is no reason to believe that the jury misapplied the law.
In addition, appellant concedes that no objection to this instruction was offered at trial. Such a procedural default ordinarily renders appellate review unavailable. He alleges, however, that the giving of this instruction was fundamental error requiring reversal. In order for a mistake to constitute fundamental error, it must be so prejudicial to the rights of a defendant as to make a fair trial impossible. Howey v. State (1990), Ind., 557 N.E.2d 1326. However, we find no error, and therefore, ipso facto, no fundamental error.
Appellant claims that the court's instruction misled the jury as to the resulting post-trial procedures. He bases this claim on the court's having given Instruction No. 21, which read as follows:
Whenever a defendant is found guilty but mentally ill at the time of the crime, the Court shall sentence the defendant in the same manner as a defendant found guilty of the offense.
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