Bieller v. State, 47194

• Decision Date: 19 March 1973
• Docket Number: No. 47194,47194
• Parties: Walter H. BIELLER, Sr. v. STATE of Mississippi.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 97

275 So.2d 97

Walter H. BIELLER, Sr. v. STATE of Mississippi.

No. 47194.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

March 19, 1973.

Rehearing Denied April 9, 1973.

Howard A. McDonnell, Biloxi, Eddie I. Jones, Bay St. Louis, for appellant.

A. F. Summer, Atty. Gen., by J. B. Garretty, Special Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.

SMITH, Justice.

Walter H. Bieller, Sr. was indicted for murder. At the conclusion of his trial in the Circuit Court of Hancock County upon that charge, the jury returned a verdict of guilty of manslaughter. Thereupon, he was sentenced to serve a term of 15 years in the penitentiary. He appeals.

Following his indictment, Bieller's counsel filed a motion requesting 'a psychiatric examination at the Mississippi State Hospital (for the insane) where he may be examined by competent psychiatrists to determine the degree, if any, of his mental illness.' This request was granted by the trial court.

After a period of observation at the hospital, a lengthy written report was transmitted to the trial judge which recited: 'It is the unanimous opinion of the staff that he (Bieller) should receive the diagnosis of (1) Without Psychosis, and (2) Alcohol Addiction. At no time during his stay here at the hospital did Mr. Bieller show any psychotic thinking or behavior.' No further action was requested by appellant with respect to this matter in the trial court.

A plea of not guilty having been entered, a special venire was drawn, a jury duly empaneled, and the case went to trial. Without detailing the evidence, only one reasonable conclusion can be drawn from it: On the evening of November 17, 1970, Bieller killed a woman (with whom he had been living) by shooting her once in the head, at close range with a 410 gauge shotgun, as she sat at a table in his home.

The only defense offered by Bieller may be summarized as being that, as to the occasion in question, he had suffered a complete loss of memory and could not remember anything at all about it. This loss of memory is attributed by Bieller to an over-indulgence in alcoholic beverages, to the drinking of which to excess he was addicted. Several questions are now raised.

It is argued that a hearing should have been conducted upon Bieller's mental competence. However, none was requested in the trial court. Moreover, Bieller testified at considerable length, both on direct and cross-examination, and there is nothing in his testimony to indicate that he was irrational or suffering from any mental impairment or psychosis, or incapable of conferring intelligently with his counsel. The fact that he insisted that he remembered nothing of the occasion, which fact was attributed to excessive drinking, cannot be so considered. The record lends no support whatever to the proposition that Bieller was mentally incapable of standing trial.

An instruction was requested on Bieller's behalf, which the trial court declined to grant, dealing with his condition at the time of the homicide in these words:

The Court instructs the July for the Defendant that if you believe from the evidence that the Defendant was drunk or unconscience (sic) from any cause, at the time of the shooting of the Deceased and knew nothing about it and do not know what actual (sic) happened, then it is your sworn duty to return a verdict of 'NOT GUILTY'.

There was no evidence that defendant's claimed inability to remember was attributable to anything other than to his excessive drinking, that is, as mentioned in the instruction, to being drunk....