Blake v. United States

Decision Date12 February 1969
Docket NumberNo. 23945.,23945.
Citation407 F.2d 908
PartiesJohn Joseph BLAKE, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Gaines C. Granade, Atlanta, Ga., for appellant.

William H. Hamilton, Jr., Joseph W. Hatchett, Asst. U. S. Attys., Jacksonville, Fla., Jerome M. Feit, Theodore George Gilinsky, Attys., Crim. Div., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., for appellee.

Before JOHN R. BROWN, Chief Judge, WISDOM, GEWIN, BELL, THORNBERRY, COLEMAN, GOLDBERG, AINSWORTH, GODBOLD, DYER, SIMPSON, and MORGAN, Circuit Judges, En Banc.

BELL, Circuit Judge:

The significant assignments of error presented on this appeal center on the defense of insanity and the legal standards which are applicable thereto in a criminal trial in the federal courts. Because of the importance of the questions in light of developing medico-legal concepts in the field of behavioral science, this court, sua sponte, ordered en banc consideration of the case. We reverse for retrial on a definition of insanity more nearly attuned to present day concepts of psychiatry.

Blake was charged with bank robbery, 18 U.S.C.A. § 2113. He was arrested on the day following the robbery and his trial began some six months later. The evidence that he committed the robbery was overwhelming; his principal defense was insanity at the time of the commission of the offense. He was convicted and his motion for new trial denied. He was thereafter sentenced and this appeal followed.

I.

There are several assignments of error which have nothing to do with the insanity defense. Decision on these, with the exception of one, will be pretermitted in view of our reversal for new trial on one of the questions arising out of the insanity defense and the fact that the claimed errors are not likely to recur on subsequent trial.

The one non-insanity defense assignment of error to be considered is that Blake was denied due process of law because of the conditions of his pretrial incarceration. This assignment, too, is related to his mental condition but not to the insanity defense. He was unable to make bond and claims that he suffered physical discomforts to the extent that he was unable to assist his counsel in preparing a defense. This question was considered by the district court prior to the commencement of the trial. It appeared that counsel had complete access to Blake at all times. But, it was urged, this was of no avail since Blake's mental processes were diminished by the baneful conditions of his confinement. The facts were that Blake was examined by psychiatrists, pursuant to 18 U.S.C.A. § 4244, following his indictment and again shortly before trial and they were of the opinion that he was competent, able to understand the proceedings against him, and able to assist in his own defense. The court twice found that appellant was able to understand the proceedings against him and to cooperate in his own defense. These findings were supported in fact and law. Dusky v. United States, 1960, 362 U.S. 402, 80 S.Ct. 788, 4 L.Ed.2d 824. Merrill v. United States, 5 Cir., 1964, 338 F.2d 763. The court in Dusky stated the test as "* * * whether he has sufficient present ability to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding — and whether he has a rational as well as factual understanding of the proceedings against him." 362 U.S. at p. 402, 80 S.Ct. at p. 789.

There is no direct attack on Blake's competency to stand trial; rather we perceive that he seeks the same end. The indirect approach also fails. This assignment of error is without merit.

II.

The remaining assignments of error are three in number. One, appellant urges that the evidence created a reasonable doubt as to his sanity at the time of the commission of the offense and that the court thus erred in having failed to grant a judgment of aquittal. Two, it is alleged that the instructions to the jury as to the burden of proof on the issue of insanity were confusing and erroneous. Three, it is also asserted that the definition of insanity given the jury in charge for determining the issue of not guilty by reason of insanity was outmoded and prejudicial.

The contention that the evidence created a reasonable doubt requires a statement of the law as to the proof required on the issue of insanity and this discussion answers as well the assignment of error based on the charge on burden of proof. In Davis v. United States, 1895, 160 U.S. 469, 16 S.Ct. 353, 40 L.Ed. 499, the court said:

"Strictly speaking, the burden of proof, as those words are understood in criminal law, is never upon the accused to establish his innocence or to disprove the facts necessary to establish the crime for which he is indicted. It is on the prosecution from the beginning to the end of the trial and applies to every element necessary to constitute the crime. Giving to the prosecution, where the defence is insanity, the benefit in the way of proof of the presumption in favor of sanity, the vital question, from the time a plea of not guilty is entered until the return of the verdict, is whether, upon all the evidence, by whatever side adduced, guilt is established beyond reasonable doubt. If the whole evidence, including that supplied by the presumption of sanity, does not exclude beyond reasonable doubt the hypothesis of insanity, of which some proof is adduced, the accused is entitled to an acquittal of the specific offence charged." 160 U.S. at pp. 487-88, 16 S.Ct. at p. 358.

It follows that if there is some evidence supporting the claim of insanity, a conceded fact here, the issue must be submitted to the jury. Brock v. United States, 5 Cir., 1967, 387 F.2d 254, 257; Mims v. United States, 5 Cir., 1967, 375 F.2d 135, 140. This means only slight evidence. Lee v. United States, 5 Cir., 1937, 91 F.2d 326-330; Howard v. United States, 5 Cir., 1956, 232 F.2d 274, 276. It is true also, as Blake states, that the question of sufficiency of the evidence necessary to make an issue for the jury on the defense of insanity as well as whether the evidence establishes as a matter of law a reasonable doubt as to a defendant's sanity is for the court. Nagell v. United States, 5 Cir., 1968, 392 F.2d 934, 937; Bishop v. United States, 5 Cir., 1968, 394 F.2d 500, 501; United States v. Westerhausen, 7 Cir., 1960, 283 F.2d 844, 852; Fitts v. United States, 10 Cir., 1960, 284 F.2d 108.

The instructions given the jury by the district court here on the burden of proof accorded with the teaching of Davis, supra, and are free of error.

We come then to the sufficiency of evidence question. The district court followed the salutary principle, applicable in cases involving the defense of insanity, of admitting all evidence, both lay and expert, in any wise relevant or pertinent, to the issue of insanity. This is in keeping with the philosophy of letting in all facts which might be helpful to the jury in making the final determination of the criminal responsibility of the accused. See Mims v. United States, supra, 375 F.2d, at p. 143, where the court pointed to the sound rule that the issue of insanity should be determined by the jury from all of the evidence rather than from the opinion of experts alone.1

This approach resulted in a wealth of raw material for the jury. In summary, the evidence respecting Blake's mental condition disclosed a well-to-do background, two years of college, and active duty with the Navy. In 1944, at the age of 21, and while in the Navy, he suffered an epileptic seizure and was thereafter given a medical discharge. He suffered disciplinary problems while in the Navy. He received electro-shock treatment in 1945, and following further mental difficulties in 1945 and 1946, entered a Veterans Administration hospital for a stay of two to three months in 1946. He taught school and coached for a time in 1946. He married in 1947 and three children were born in the ensuing years of that marriage. He was employed by his father in the construction business. Meanwhile, he became a heavy drinker.

In 1948 he was admitted to a private psychiatric institution in Connecticut where he remained for some two months and then returned to Miami to again work for his father. He thereafter received private outpatient care from psychiatrists, and between 1948 and 1954 spent time in at least three private psychiatric institutions and received further electro-shock treatment.

By 1954 he had left his father's business. From 1955 to 1960, his behavior was characterized by heavy drinking and irrational acts. He began the use of stimulants and drugs. In 1955 he received eight electro-shock treatments. He was adjudged incompetent in 1956 and placed under his father's guardianship to be placed in a private institution in lieu of commitment. He was discharged from the private institution some six months later. He followed his psychiatrist to Indiana and was treated on an outpatient basis for about a year.

He was divorced from his first wife in 1958 and married again shortly afterwards. He was arrested in December 1959 for shooting his second wife. After spending a few days in jail, he was placed in a state mental hospital for several months and was finally placed on probation for the shooting offense. He continued to receive private psychiatric treatment, in and out of hospitals while on probation up to the spring of 1963. In fact, he spent six months in 1962 in a Florida state mental hospital after being declared incompetent and certified for treatment.

Having received a probated sentence in the shooting incident, and still being on probation, Blake in 1963 was sentenced to the Florida state penitentiary after being called up for violation of probation on a charge of aggravated assault. He was released from prison on September 14, 1965. While in prison he was hospitalized three or four times; saw the prison psychiatrist, and complained of blackouts. During this period of confinement he was...

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