Clark v. State

• Decision Date: 02 October 1989
• Parties: Edward C. CLARK v. STATE of Maryland. 90 Sept. Term 1989.
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

Page 405

80 Md.App. 405

564 A.2d 90

Edward C. CLARK v. STATE of Maryland.

90 Sept. Term 1989.

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland.

Oct. 2, 1989.

Clarence W. Sharp, Asst. Public Defender (Alan H. Murrell, Public Defender, on the brief), Baltimore, for appellant.

Mary Ellen Barbera, Asst. Atty. Gen. (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Atty. Gen. and Stuart O. Simms, State's Atty. for Baltimore City, on the brief), Baltimore, for appellee.

Argued before ROBERT M. BELL, WENNER and FISCHER, JJ.

ROBERT M. BELL, Judge.

The only question we need address on this appeal from the judgment of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City is:

Did the trial court err in refusing to instruct the jury as to the dispositional consequences of a verdict of not criminally responsible? ¹

Consistent with the teachings of Erdman v. State, 315 Md. 46, 553 A.2d 244 (1989), rev'g, 75 Md.App. 560, 542 A.2d 399 (1988), we answer that question in the affirmative and, so, reverse appellant's conviction and remand for new trial.

Since the sole issue with which we are here concerned is the trial court's refusal to grant a jury instruction, we need only focus upon those facts, largely procedural, which place that decision in context. Hence, our recitation of the facts will be brief. Edward Clark, appellant, was charged with various counts of attempted murder, armed robbery, use of a handgun in the commission of a crime of violence, and related offenses. He entered pleas of not guilty and not criminally responsible. See Md. Rule 4-242(a) ² and Md. Health-Gen'l Code Ann. § 12-109(a)(1). ³ The case proceeded to trial before a jury.

At the close of the evidence, but before the jury was instructed, appellant submitted the following instruction, with the request that the jury be so instructed:

26A Effect of a Finding of Not Criminally Responsible By Reason of Insanity

Ladies and gentlemen, of the jury you are entitled to know the legal effect of your verdict in this case. Keep in mind, at all times, that your decision should be based solely upon the evidence that you have heard.

You, of course, are aware of the consequences of a verdict, reached by you, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, of guilty or not guilty, but a verdict of not criminally responsible by reason of insanity may not have such a commonly understood meaning.

If Edward Clark, the Defendant is found not criminally responsible by reason of insanity, the Court has the authority to commit the Defendant to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene for institutional, in-patient care and treatment. His commitment is for a period of time wherein his behavior is monitored by the institutional staff. When the Defendant is viewed by the staff that he is not a danger to himself or to the person or property of others, he is then entitled to a hearing within the institution. The burden of proof is with the committed individual to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that he is not a danger to himself or to the person or property of others if discharged or released from confinement within the conditions imposed by the Court. The findings and recommendations of the Board are then forwarded to the Court for the final determination of whether the Defendant should remain committed; be conditionally released; or be discharged from commitment. It is this Court, then, that makes the final determination [of] whether or not he is to be released.

When the court's instructions neither contained appellant's requested instruction on criminal responsibility nor fairly covered it, appellant excepted. The court overruled the exception, explaining:

Counsel have correctly stated that there were lengthy discussions in reference to this issue on this particular instruction in chambers. There is no Maryland law allowing such instruction or approving such an instruction. The legislative history, as Ms. Nathan has articulated, is correct. The Court believes that this would be the province of the Court and not the jury and therefore the requested instruction is denied and the defense's exception noted for the record.

It is obvious, from the foregoing, that the court's rationale for refusing to instruct the jury as appellant requested was its belief that the jury was not entitled to such an instruction. The court did not express any view concerning the correctness of the requested instruction. ⁴

In Erdman, the court was presented with the identical issue presented here, whether it is required, when a defendant has pled not criminally responsible, to instruct the jury of the consequences of that plea. Erdman requested the following instruction If the defendant is found not criminally responsible, the court will commit the defendant to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene for institutional in-patient care. In the future, the defendant will be entitled to [be] release[d] from custody of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene only if this court or a jury finds he will not be a danger to himself or the person or property of another.

75 Md.App. at 563, 542 A.2d 399. Being "uncomfortable with the possibility that the verdict will be tainted to the prejudice of the defendant by what the jury has been told about the defendant's responsibility, without information as to his position as prescribed by law" (emphasis in original), the Court of Appeals reversed our affirmance of the trial court's refusal to so instruct the jury. By way of explanation, the Court noted that the jury was extensively instructed concerning the plea of not criminally responsible and its responsibility to make that determination. It then pointed out:

The word "responsible" stood naked before the jury. The jury received no indication whatsoever by way of court proceedings as to what happens to a defendant found to be not criminally responsible for his criminal conduct. The curtain was drawn on that matter and no light seeped through officially. All the jury had before it was the test for its determination whether the defendant was "responsible" or not. There was no suggestion as to what effect a finding of not criminally responsible would have. The common meaning of "responsible" is "likely to be called upon to answer (a man is [responsible] for his acts)." Webster's 3rd New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged. Or as Webster also defines it, "chargeable with the result." It follows that if one is not responsible he is not likely to be called upon to answer for his acts or chargeable with their result. This leads to a reasonable connotation that a defendant found to be not responsible for his criminal conduct will walk out of the courtroom, not only unpunished but free of any restraint.

315 Md. at 57, 553 A.2d 244. The Court went on to observe that "the instruction is to be given only when duly requested by the defendant," 315 Md. at 58, 553 A.2d 244, and that, agreeing with the Court of Special Appeals, "[i]n the circumstances of this case", the instruction requested by appellant was sufficient. Id., at 59, 553 A.2d 244. The Court cautioned that "[a] recitation of the statutory procedure in great detail, such as reading the entire section of the statute, would tend to increase confusion." Id., quoting Lyles v. United States, 254 F.2d 725, 728 (D.C.Cir.1957), cert. denied, 356 U.S. 961, 78 S.Ct. 997, 2 L.Ed.2d 1067 (1958).

As was the case in Erdman, the trial court's instructions apprised the jury of the plea of not criminally responsible. It also, as it was required to do, set out the test for criminal responsibility and the jury's responsibility to determine appellant's criminal responsibility for the commission of the crimes with which he was charged. Appellant, for his part, like Erdman, seasonably requested an instruction concerning the consequences of a plea of not criminally responsible and, when the court's instructions failed to cover the subject, timely objected. The content of the instruction requested by appellant and that requested by Erdman (and, incidentally, found by the Court of Appeals to be sufficient) differs to a significant extent. It is this difference in content which presents the only possible basis for contending that the result in this case should be different than that reached in Erdman.

While conceding that the court must give a proper instruction on the consequences of a not criminally responsible verdict, when duly requested, the State is quick to point out that Erdman did not specify what constitutes a proper instruction. Accordingly, the State contends that the instruction requested by appellant misstated the law in several important respects and, consequently, was not a "proper" instruction. Since, it argues, unless a requested instruction correctly states the law it need not be given, Mack v. State, 300 Md. 583, 592, 479 A.2d 1344 (1984), and a court's refusal to give an instruction, a portion of which is incorrect, is not reversible error, Foster, Evans, Huffington v. State, 305 Md. 306, 317, 503 A.2d 1326, cert. denied, 478 U.S. 1010, 1023, 106 S.Ct. 3310, 3315, 92 L.Ed.2d 723 (1986), the court was right, albeit for the wrong reason. See Robeson v. State, 285 Md. 498, 502, 403 A.2d 1221 (1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1021, 100 S.Ct. 680, 62 L.Ed.2d 654 (1980). ⁵

As we have seen, appellant timely requested an instruction on the consequences of a verdict of not criminally responsible and timely excepted to the court's failure to give such an instruction. If we assume, as the State argues, that the requested instruction contained misstatements or was misleading, and, thus, was not an absolutely correct statement of the law, the State's argument presents squarely the question whether it is the court, rather than the parties, which must determine what is an accurate statement of the law. Stated another way, we must determine whether, the trial judge must submit a "correct" instruction to the jury when a defendant's requested jury instruction on a proper subject for...