Com. v. Legg

• Decision Date: 03 April 1998
• Citation: 711 A.2d 430,551 Pa. 437
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Betty LEGG, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

Page 430

711 A.2d 430

551 Pa. 437

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Betty LEGG, Appellant.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Submitted Dec. 13, 1996.

Decided April 3, 1998.

[551 Pa. 440] Caroline M. Roberto, Pittsburgh, for Betty Legg.

Scott A. Bradley and Robert A. Willig, Assistant District Attorney, Pittsburgh, for Com.

Before FLAHERTY, C.J., and ZAPPALA, CAPPY, CASTILLE, NIGRO, NEWMAN and SAYLOR, JJ.

OPINION OF THE COURT

NEWMAN, Justice.

Appellant Betty Legg appeals from a Superior Court Order, reversing an Order of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County (PCRA Court), in which the PCRA Court granted Appellant's petition for collateral relief pursuant to the Post-Conviction Relief Act (PCRA), 42 Pa.C.S. § 9541 et seq. The issue before us is whether Appellant's trial counsel was ineffective for failing to investigate and present the diminished capacity defense at Appellant's murder trial. We conclude that trial counsel was ineffective where available expert testimony indicated that Appellant was suffering from major depression and anxiety that would have prevented her from rationally forming the specific intent to kill. Therefore, we reverse the Order of the Superior Court and reinstate the PCRA Court's Order, granting Appellant a new trial.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The record establishes that Appellant and the victim, Ernest Legg (Mr. Legg), were married in 1956. In 1960, Appellant learned that her husband was having an affair with another woman, Amy Stephenson. Nonetheless, the Leggs reconciled and stayed together until 1980 when Mr. Legg suddenly left. The Leggs obtained a divorce in 1985. They, however, continued to have sexual relations. In early 1986, Appellant learned that Mr. Legg had rekindled his relationship with Stephenson in 1985.

Appellant repeatedly called Stephenson demanding that she leave Mr. Legg alone. Sometimes she would call and then hang up the telephone. She also followed Mr. Legg and Stephenson by car. Due to her mounting anger toward Stephenson and her fear that she might harm Mr. Legg, Appellant voluntarily sought psychiatric assistance on June 11, 1986. She went to the Northern Communities Mental Health/Mental Retardation Center (Northern Communities MHMR), which recommended immediate in-patient hospitalization. That same day, Appellant was admitted to St. John's Hospital psychiatric ward because she was actively suicidal and was talking about killing her husband. St. John's diagnosed her with recurrent major depression and treated her with tranquilizers. After two days, Appellant left St. John's, against medical advice and discontinued her medications. Appellant then saw a clinical psychologist, Lois Dabney-Smith, Ph.D., several days later for one session but did not return for further treatment.

On her birthday, July 27, 1986, Mr. Legg took Appellant out for dinner. They later engaged in sexual relations, which led Appellant to believe that they were going to be able to resolve their differences. Then, on August 6, 1986, due to Appellant's repeated telephone calls, Stephenson filed charges of harassment against Appellant. The criminal complaint stunned Appellant. Shortly before 4:00 p.m., on August 8, 1986, she drove across town to meet Mr. Legg at his place of employment. She had a gun that she always kept under the front seat of her car for protection. ¹ As Mr. Legg exited his place of employment, she approached him, carrying the gun in a bag. Mr. Legg allowed her to join him in the front seat of his car. Appellant begged him to tell her the truth about According to Appellant, she had only intended to scare Mr. Legg into telling her the truth. She claims that when Mr. Legg saw the weapon, he grabbed her wrist and the gun went off; as she tried to remove her finger from the trigger, it fired a second time. Mr. Legg exited the car and collapsed. He died of gun shot wounds in the arm and back. After the shooting, Appellant claims that she was in "shock." She drove to the Public Safety Building, where she worked as a dispatcher, to report the incident. She informed the desk sergeant, "I shot my husband" and handed him the gun.

Stephenson, but Mr. Legg denied any romantic involvement with her. The couple began arguing. She pulled the gun from the bag.

She was then arrested and charged with criminal homicide, 18 Pa.C.S. § 2501, and a violation of the Uniform Firearms Act, 18 Pa.C.S. § 6101. On March 24, 1987, Appellant waived her right to a jury trial and proceeded to a bench trial before the Honorable Alan S. Penkower in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County (trial court). An attorney of the Office of the Allegheny County Public Defender represented Appellant. At trial, defense counsel primarily relied on the defense of accident or homicide by misadventure. ² Alternatively, counsel asserted a heat of passion defense. ³ Trial counsel did not raise a diminished capacity defense. ⁴ The trial court convicted Appellant of first degree murder and sentenced her to life imprisonment. The Superior Court affirmed the judgment of sentence and we denied her Petition for Allowance of Appeal.

On February 27, 1991, Appellant filed a PCRA petition requesting a new trial, asserting, inter alia, that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to raise the diminished capacity defense. Judge Penkower also presided at the PCRA hearing. At the hearing, Appellant, her trial counsel, and psychologist Dr. Herbert I. Levit, testified concerning her diminished capacity, after which the PCRA Court granted her a new trial. The Superior Court reversed the PCRA Court, holding that trial counsel reasonably relied on the defense of accident or homicide by misadventure, which could have produced an acquittal, and avoided the defense of diminished capacity, that would have admitted guilt and resulted in a sentence for criminal homicide. We granted allocatur on the issue of whether the Superior Court erred in reversing the PCRA Court's determination that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to pursue a diminished capacity defense.

DISCUSSION

To establish an ineffective assistance of counsel claim pursuant to the PCRA, 42 Pa.C.S. § 9543, an appellant must prove that (1) the underlying claim is of arguable merit; (2) counsel's action or inaction was not grounded on any reasonable basis designed to effectuate his client's interest; and (3) counsel's omission or commission so undermined the trial that the verdict is unreliable. Commonwealth v. Szuchon, 534 Pa. 483, 633 A.2d 1098 (1993). ⁵

Here, Appellant argues that, as found by the PCRA Court, the diminished capacity defense would have been a critical issue at trial and defense counsel's failure to explore, investigate, and present available psychiatric evidence constituted ineffective assistance of counsel. Initially, we note that "[i]n asserting a diminished capacity defense, a defendant is attempting to prove that he was incapable of forming the specific intent to kill; if the defendant is successful, first degree murder is mitigated to third degree." Commonwealth v. Travaglia, 541 Pa. 108, 124, 661 A.2d 352, 359 (1995), cert. denied, 516 U.S. 1121, 116 S.Ct. 931, 133 L.Ed.2d 858 (1996). Thus, the defendant admits general criminal culpability, but seeks to reduce the degree of guilt to third degree murder. Commonwealth v. Zettlemoyer, 500 Pa. 16, 454 A.2d 937 (1982), cert. denied,461 U.S. 970, 103 S.Ct. 2444, 77 L.Ed.2d 1327, rehearing denied, 463 U.S. 1236, 104 S.Ct. 31, 77 L.Ed.2d 1452 (1983). Diminished capacity, however, is an extremely limited defense. Travaglia. Psychiatric testimony that addresses "mental disorders affecting the cognitive functions [of deliberation and premeditation] necessary to formulate a specific intent" is admissible. Zettlemoyer, 500 Pa. at 28, 454 A.2d at 943. However, psychiatric evidence that a defendant lacked the ability to control his actions or that he acted impulsively is irrelevant and inadmissible on the issue of the defendant's specific intent to kill. Id.

At the PCRA hearing, Appellant's expert, Dr. Levit, testified that she was actively homicidal and suicidal at the time of her hospitalization two months before the shooting. He stated that she sought help because she was reaching a point where she could no longer control her behavior. R. 340a. According to Dr. Levit, Appellant suffered from major depression with anxiety at the time of the shooting. Such a disorder, he explained, would have distorted her perception of the situation with her ex-husband and impaired her judgment. R. 334a-35a. Dr. Levit opined that the shooting resulted from her depression and anxiety associated with her feelings of anger and betrayal. R. 344a. He clarified that due to her depression, anxiety, and the intensity of her anger and feelings of betrayal, she lacked the ability to rationally formulate the intent to kill Mr. Legg. R. 349a, 367a-68a. Dr. Levit's testimony spoke to more than an inability of Appellant to control herself, and directly related Appellant's underlying mental defect to her inability to formulate a specific intent to kill. Based on this testimony, the PCRA Court held that Appellant's claim has arguable merit. The Commonwealth concedes that she satisfied the first prong of an ineffectiveness claim.

The second prong of Appellant's ineffectiveness claim, whether trial counsel had a reasonable basis for not presenting a diminished capacity defense, depends on whether trial counsel knew or, through reasonable investigation, should have known of Appellant's psychiatric history. See Commonwealth v. Walker, 540 Pa. 80, 656 A.2d 90 (1995), cert. denied, 516 U.S. 854, 116 S.Ct. 156, 133 L.Ed.2d 100 (1995)(counsel not ineffective for failing to call witnesses he had no way of knowing were available); Commonwealth v. Peterkin, 511 Pa. 299, 513 A.2d 373 (1986), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 1070, 107 S.Ct. 962, 93 L.Ed.2d 1010 (1987)(counsel has duty to make reasonable investigations). Tr...