Capps v. State
| Decision Date | 17 June 1991 |
| Docket Number | No. 49A02-9011-CR-679,49A02-9011-CR-679 |
| Citation | 573 N.E.2d 459 |
| Parties | Richard CAPPS, Appellant-Defendant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff. 1 |
| Court | Indiana Appellate Court |
George K. Shields, Indianapolis, for appellant-defendant.
Linley E. Pearson, State Atty. Gen. and Gary Damon Secrest, Deputy Atty. Gen., Office of Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellee-plaintiff.
Richard Capps appeals from jury verdicts of guilty on two counts of murder. His defense was insanity. The issue on appeal is sufficiency of the evidence, particularly whether the prosecution proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Capps killed his victims "knowingly or intentionally." 2 We affirm.
Before dawn on November 17, 1988 the bodies of Roland and Margaret Capps, married, both aged sixty, were found lying in the street in front of their house on Buick Drive in Speedway. They had been shot to death. A trail through the autumn leaves covering the lawn and bloodstains on the front porch indicated that the bodies had been dragged into the street from within the house. When an officer dialed the Capps' home telephone number, their twenty-three year old son Richard answered. He said he was the only person in the house. Shortly thereafter, he came out and was arrested. While being handcuffed, he stated that he was Jesus Christ, that his parents were evil and had tried to kill him, and that he was ridding the world of evil. The murder weapon and spent shells were found inside the house, as well as bloodstains suggesting that the shootings had taken place there, after which the bodies had been dragged out to the street.
After a defense motion for mental examination, the court in February, 1989 appointed two psychiatrists, Nie and Schuster. Both found Capps incompetent to stand trial. As to culpability, Nie wrote "whether [Capps] was psychotic at the time of the alleged crime is uncertain at this point though I strongly suspect that he was insane at the time of the act"; Schuster opined that "Capps was probably of unsound mind at the time of the alleged offense but [reserved] final opinion [pending] opportunity to examine him when he is less delusional...." Record at 39, 43. Capps was then transferred to the Logansport State Hospital, where he was treated with anti-psychosis drugs. In July, 1989 both psychiatrists found that Capps understood the nature of the charges against him and was capable of assisting in his defense.
They testified to that effect in a hearing in October, 1989 whereupon the court found Capps competent to stand trial.
At trial in March, 1990 Capps interposed the defense of insanity through witness Strefling, a psychiatrist from Logansport State Hospital, who testified that Capps suffered from schizoaffective disorder, paranoid delusions and auditory hallucinations. Thereafter, the court pursuant to the procedure in Ind.Code 35-36-2-2 examined psychiatrists Nie and Schuster, both of whom were then cross-examined by both the state and the defense. Nie reiterated his opinion of uncertainty, but nevertheless strong suspicion that Capps was insane at the time of the killings. Schuster, who had reserved an opinion on Capps' state of mind, testified that during the July 1989 examination Capps was less delusional than during February 1989. Accordingly, when the court asked "[D]id you reach a conclusion or an opinion as to the status of his mind from the legal sense on or about the date of the alleged events?", 3 Schuster answered unequivocally that "Richard Capps was of unsound mind on or about November 16th, 1988 as a result of a drug-related psychotic state." Record at 827.
The prosecution called rebuttal witnesses, including Capps' older brother and eight current or former neighbors of the Capps family. None of the rebuttal witnesses had ever heard Capps claim to be Jesus. The prosecutor elicited opinions that Capps was a bully, a troublemaker who knew right from wrong, and who was not insane but was capable of feigning insanity to evade culpability. Paul Kash, a former friend of Capps', testified that six to eight weeks before the killings, he had arrived at the Capps' home just as the defendant came out of the house, angrily stating that he would kill his parents and put them in the trash. Kash also testified that he and Capps had at least three conversations concerning insanity as a means of avoiding criminal responsibility, and that at least one of the conversations occurred within two to six months before November, 1988.
Capps' brother Michael testified that he once had to lock himself in the bathroom, having been chased there by an angry, knife-wielding Richard, who then stabbed the knife through the hollow-core bathroom door. On another occasion, testified Michael, Richard had actually fired a shotgun at him, aiming high. Michael Capps also testified that while sorting through the house after the shooting of his parents, he found in the defendant's dresser drawer a plastic sandwich bag containing a receipt showing that the defendant had purchased the murder weapon less than a month before the killings and a cartoon torn from a newspaper, depicting a lawyer advising a prisoner that "Our defense will be that no one would be stupid enough to do what you did."
The state's final rebuttal witness was Detective Roney, who took charge of the investigation following the arrest of Capps. Roney testified that Capps abandoned his claims to be Jesus when Roney told him to "cut the bullshit." Record at 1159. Roney also testified that when he interviewed Capps during the afternoon of November 17, 1988, Capps...
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Capps v. State, 49A02-9807-PC-605
...suggesting that the shootings had taken place there, after which the bodies had been dragged out to the street. Capps v. State, 573 N.E.2d 459, 460 (Ind.Ct.App.1991). Despite an insanity defense, following a jury trial, Capps was convicted of two counts of Murder. On direct appeal, this cou......