Annaratone v. State, 52665
| Decision Date | 10 June 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. 52665,52665 |
| Citation | 399 So.2d 825 |
| Parties | John ANNARATONE v. STATE of Mississippi. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
Richard T. Phillips, Smith & Phillips, Batesville, for appellant.
Bill Allain, Atty. Gen. by Marvin L. White, Jr., Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.
Before ROBERTSON, SUGG and BOWLING, JJ.
SUGG, Justice, for the Court:
Appellant was convicted in the Circuit Court of Tate County on two counts of rape and sentenced to serve two fifteen-year terms consecutively. On appellant's motion, 1 these two cases were consolidated for trial.
Appellant does not deny the acts were committed, but only that he lacked the mental capacity for guilt. The sole issue for the jury was whether the appellant was able to distinguish right from wrong at the time the rapes were committed. The facts of both crimes are uncontradicted.
On November 1, 1978, the appellant John R. Annaratone, drove to Tate County and approached Victim # 1 on the pretense of being a prospective buyer of her home stating the realtor had sent him to look at the house. Victim # 1 showed appellant throughout her house and then offered him a glass of iced tea. At that time he pulled a knife, ordered her to the bedroom and raped her. He tied and blindfolded her with nylon stockings, tore the phones from the wall and left. Victim # 1 testified that she heard the appellant empty the ice from the glass into the sink. However, the glass he used was never recovered.
On November 15, 1978, appellant drove to the home of Victim # 2. At the front door he inquired about some real estate, asked her where the Ferrow place was and if she might find the phone number for him or allow him to use the telephone. He followed his victim into the mobile home and locked the door. When she turned around, he confronted her with the knife, ordered her to the bedroom and raped her. At the beginning of the sex act, Victim # 2 told appellant she might get pregnant. Before ejaculating, appellant withdrew from her. He then put on his clothes, pulled the phone out of the wall and left. He backed his truck out to the road to conceal his license tag number.
Appellant was arrested March 23, 1979, and confessed to both crimes. Officers from the Tate County Sheriff's Department and the Mississippi Highway Patrol testified that appellant admitted he attempted to conceal his license tag number by backing out of Victim # 2's driveway and that he expressed remorse for his actions and concern for both victims.
The defense presented two psychiatrists who concluded appellant suffered from a psychotic depressive reaction and was therefore unable to distinguish right from wrong at the time of the crimes. The 23 lay witnesses who testified for the defense primarily attested to the appellant's good moral character and exemplary lifestyle before the rapes occurred. The state presented no expert medical testimony on the issue of appellant's sanity. From this conflicting evidence the jury found appellant was sane when he committed both rapes. In his first assignment of error appellant contends the state's evidence was not sufficient to refute the experts' opinions. We disagree.
The Federal and State Constitutions guarantee an accused the right of a trial by jury, not a trial by medical experts. If a jury is not free to reach a verdict contrary to the opinion of medical experts which is contradicted by lay testimony, this would, in effect, substitute a trial by jury to a trial by medical experts. This Court has repeatedly held that, regardless of expert testimony presented by the defense, it is the jury who makes the final determination on the issue of a defendant's sanity. King v. State, 374 So.2d 808 (Miss.1979); Lias v. State, 362 So.2d 198 (Miss.1978); Knight v. State, 360 So.2d 674 (Miss.1978); Hollins v. State, 340 So.2d 438 (Miss.1976).
In Lias, supra, the defense was predicated on the opinion of a psychiatrist who testified the defendant was unable to distinguish right from wrong at the time of the crimes. Affirming the jury verdict of guilty, we said:
While admitting the closeness of the factual determination, we also acknowledge that such determination is the purpose for which juries exist. We are unwilling on an appeal to overturn a jury determination unless such determination is unsupported by the facts. (362 So.2d at 201)
Appellant's ability to distinguish right from wrong when he committed the rapes was supported by the state's evidence; therefore, we are not willing to overturn the jury determination of sanity. Further, the jury's verdict was not against the overwhelming weight of the evidence.
During deliberations the jury sent a note to the judge asking: "(1) With the top two...
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Wilcher v. State
...requested the definition of "premeditation." In its discussion of Collins, this Court examined its prior decisions in Annaratone v. State, 399 So.2d 825 (Miss.1981) and Brister v. State, 86 Miss. 461, 38 So. 678 s 199. In Brister, Polly Brister was tried and convicted of permitting gambling......
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State v. Garza, 77,294[1]
...States v. Hill, 688 F.2d 18 (6th Cir.),cert. denied 459 U.S. 1074 (1982); State v. Powell, 400 N.W.2d 562 (Iowa 1987); Annaratone v. State, 399 So.2d 825 (Miss. 1981); State v. Taylor, 917 S.W.2d 222 (Mo. App. While this is true, these cases are easily distinguishable from the present case.......
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Cole v. State
...the final determination on the issue of a defendant's sanity. Such determination is the purpose for which juries exist. Annaratone v. State, 399 So.2d 825 (Miss.1981); King v. State, 374 So.2d 808 (Miss.1979); Lias v. State, 362 So.2d 198 (Miss.1978); Knight v. State, 360 So.2d 674 (Miss.19......
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Collins v. State
...in Mississippi law address extraneous influences regarding the use of law books by the jury in its deliberations. In Annaratone v. State, 399 So.2d 825 (Miss.1981), a rape case, the jury discovered law books stored in the jury room. Id. at 827. At a hearing following the trial, members of t......