State v. Young, 1

• Decision Date: 28 December 1982
• Docket Number: CA-CR,No. 1,1
• Citation: 135 Ariz. 437,661 P.2d 1138
• Parties: STATE of Arizona, Appellant, v. Richard F. YOUNG, Appellee. 4956.
• Court: Arizona Court of Appeals

Page 1138

661 P.2d 1138

135 Ariz. 437

STATE of Arizona, Appellant, v. Richard F. YOUNG, Appellee.

No. 1 CA-CR 4956.

Court of Appeals of Arizona Division 1, Department B.

Dec. 28, 1982.

Rehearing Denied Feb. 28, 1983.

Review Denied March 29, 1983.

Robert K. Corbin, Atty. Gen. by William J. Schafer III, Chief Counsel, Crim. Div., Michael D. Jones, Asst. Atty. Gen., Phoenix, for appellant

Thomas A. Thinnes, P.A. by Thomas A. Thinnes, Eleanor L. Miller, Phoenix, for appellee.

OPINION

GRANT, Judge.

This is an appeal by the State of Arizona from two pretrial orders entered by the trial court. The first order precluded the state's primary witness to the homicide from testifying because she had been placed under hypnosis. The second order granted the motion of defendant to suppress all evidence found at the scene of the homicide other than the victim's body.

The facts leading to defendant's indictment for first degree murder reflect that on the evening of October 26, 1978, the defendant and the victim, Donald Jason, engaged in a physical fight in the Leprechaun Lounge in Phoenix, Arizona. The fight stopped when a barmaid, Diana Armstrong, threatened to call the police. Defendant, who was the head bartender, walked behind the bar, took out a pistol and shot the victim in the chest. When the victim turned and staggered towards a restroom, the defendant fired a second shot into the victim's back. The victim fell to the floor fatally wounded.

The owner of the bar, Grace Gillespie, called the police and reported the shooting. Before the police arrived, the defendant wrapped the pistol in a handkerchief and hid it behind a tile of the bar's dropped ceiling. Two police officers arrived a few minutes later, secured the scene and waited until homicide detectives arrived before gathering any physical evidence.

Approximately one hour after the scene was secured, homicide detectives conducted a search of the bar and took photographs of the scene. When one of the officers noticed a portion of a handkerchief hanging down from the ceiling, he moved the ceiling tile and retrieved the hidden pistol.

Subsequent to the homicide, Diana Armstrong made eight separate statements including one on November 21, 1978, when she was placed under hypnosis by a police detective trained in the use of hypnosis. Prior to trial the defendant filed a motion in limine seeking to preclude the state from calling Diana Armstrong as a witness at trial because of the potential taint resulting from the hypnosis. The trial court granted the motion based upon State v. La Mountain, 125 Ariz. 547, 611 P.2d 551 (1980).

The defendant also filed a pretrial motion to suppress the pistol, the handkerchief, shell casings and photographs taken at the scene on the ground that no search warrant had been obtained after the homicide scene was secured as required by Mincey v. Arizona, 437 U.S. 385, 98 S.Ct. 2408, 57 L.Ed.2d 290 (1978). The state responded that the motion to suppress was untimely filed, that the search was conducted pursuant to the owner's consent and that the defendant suffered no personal fourth amendment violation as required by Rakas v. Illinois, 439 U.S. 128, 99 S.Ct. 421, 58 L.Ed.2d 387 (1978). The trial court found that the state had not met its burden of showing that the search was lawful and therefore granted the defendant's motion to suppress.

I. HYPNOSIS ISSUE

The state's first argument on appeal requests this court to limit the cases of State v. La Mountain, supra, and State v. Mena, 128 Ariz. 226, 624 P.2d 1274 (1981) to their facts and not adopt a per se rule precluding a witness from testifying after hypnosis has been used to refresh the witness's memory. At the time of the hearing below, the only Arizona Supreme Court opinion dealing with hypnosis was State v. La Mountain. In that case the supreme court stated Although we perceive that hypnosis is a useful tool in the investigative stage, we do not feel the state of the science (or art) has been shown to be such as to admit testimony which may have been developed as a result of hypnosis. A witness who has been under hypnosis, as in the case here, should not be allowed to testify when there is a question that the testimony may have been produced by that hypnosis.

125 Ariz. at 551, 611 P.2d at 555. The supreme court held in La Mountain, however, that the admission of hypnotically-refreshed testimony in that case was harmless because the evidence against the defendant was overwhelming. La Mountain thus did not require absolute preclusion of testimony by witnesses who had been hypnotized as that rule was subsequently set forth in State v. Mena, supra, nor did it follow the modified rule as set forth in State ex rel. Collins v. Superior Court, 132 Ariz. 180, 644 P.2d 1266 (1982) (supplemental opinion filed May 4, 1982). ¹ In Collins II the Arizona Supreme Court relaxed the rule of absolute preclusion of hypnotized witnesses' testimony enunciated in Mena and Collins I, to allow a previously hypnotized witness to testify to the extent of his pre-hypnotic recall, provided that this pre-hypnotic recall had been appropriately recorded before hypnosis, and the hypnosis procedures were performed in a manner designed to minimize the danger of contamination of both pre-hypnotic and post-hypnotic recall.

We must consider then whether the law on hypnotic testimony as developed in Mena and Collins I and II should be applied to this case. In addressing the retroactivity question in Collins I the supreme court held as follows:

We hold that any person hypnotized post-Mena is incompetent to testify. Any person hypnotized pre-Mena but who testified post-Mena or who has not yet testified is incompetent to testify. We further hold that any conviction presently in the appeals process in which there was hypnotically recalled testimony and where the testimony and hypnosis took place pre-Mena will be examined on a case-by-case basis to determine if there was sufficient evidence, excluding the tainted testimony, to uphold the conviction. In other words, the question in these cases is whether the introduction of posthypnotic testimony was harmless error.

132 Ariz. at 190, 644 P.2d at 1276. In this case, the hypnosis took place pre-Mena, and the witness has not yet testified. Therefore, it appears that Collins I would require that the witness be precluded from testifying.

The issue, however, is further complicated when the supreme court's subsequent decision in Collins II is considered. Surprisingly, the opinion in Collins II, unlike Collins I, completely omits any discussion of whether Collins II is to be given limited retroactive application.

In his dissent in Collins II, Justice Gordon "[presumes] because the majority failed to address the prospective/retrospective application of the rule it sets today that the holding is prospective only," citing his discussion of this question in the majority opinion in Collins I. We assume that by this comment Justice Gordon is suggesting that the prospective/retrospective line drawing be done in accordance with the above-quoted guidelines which he developed in Collins I and which he recognized as "not purely prospective." In our opinion these guidelines might more properly be characterized as contemplating the application of a limited retroactive standard. Thus, the application of Collins I would be prospective only in the sense that it would not be applied so as to invalidate convictions which have become final. On the other hand, it would apply to convictions which have not become final because of pending appeals. To that extent it would be given a limited retroactive effect in accordance with the general rule that when there is a change of law by judicial decision between the time of trial and appeal, the appellate court will dispose of the appeal according to the law prevailing at the time of the appellate disposition. Arnold v. Knettle, 10 Ariz.App. 509, 460 P.2d 45 (1969).

From the foregoing we conclude that in this appeal we must review the record and apply the principles developed in Collins II. ² Pursuant to Collins II, a hypnotized witness can testify to matters she was able to recall and relate to the authorities prior to hypnosis if the foundational requirements of Collins II have been established. In our opinion there is implicit in Collins II a requirement that the issue of admissibility of pre-hypnotic recall be presented to the trial court for determination prior to the admission of testimony. This issue has not yet been presented to the trial court. It is clear however that Collins II prohibits the introduction of statements made during or after hypnosis. In Collins II, the supreme court stated that failure to so limit the testimony of the hypnotized witness would be reversible error if prejudicial. Therefore, as to this issue the order of the trial court precluding Diana Armstrong from testifying as to matters contained in statements made during or post-hypnosis is affirmed. However, Diana Armstrong may testify to pre-hypnosis statements if the trial court determines such testimony meets the requirements set forth in Collins II as we have applied it to this case.

The defendant also claims that the state waived the right to appeal the hypnosis issue. We find no support in the record for this contention.

II. SEARCH ISSUE

The state's second argument is that the trial court erred in granting the defendant's motion to suppress. The state argues that the motion to suppress was not filed within the time limits of rule 16.1(b), Rules of Criminal Procedure, that the warrantless search was authorized by the owner's consent and that the defendant suffered no personal fourth amendment violation.

Under Mincey v. Arizona, it is clear that once the homicide scene had been secured, the police were without authority to conduct a general search of the premises without a warrant absent either consent or some other recognized exception to the warrant...