Com. v. Mizell
| Decision Date | 10 February 1981 |
| Parties | COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. James MIZELL, Appellant. |
| Court | Pennsylvania Supreme Court |
Robert B. Lawler, Chief, Appeals Div., Sarah Vandenbraak, Philadelphia, for appellee.
Before O'BRIEN, C. J., and ROBERTS, NIX, LARSEN, FLAHERTY and KAUFFMAN, JJ.
Appellant, James Mizell, was convicted of murder of the first degree in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County. On direct appeal, we vacated the judgment of sentence and remanded the case to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing on whether trial counsel had a reasonable basis for not raising an insanity defense. 1 The instant appeal arose following reimposition of sentence in the court below, pursuant to that court's determination that counsel's action had a reasonable basis. The sole issue on appeal is whether counsel was ineffective for failing to obtain a psychiatric examination of appellant to assist appellant in deciding whether to present an insanity defense at trial.
On February 22, 1974, appellant stopped a police car and told the officer therein that a murder had occurred in the boarding house where appellant resided. He then said to the officer, The officer requested that appellant accompany him to the crime scene, and, while in route, appellant repeated Islamic expressions, spoke of the Koran, and then stated, Upon arrival at the boarding house, appellant entered alone, gathered some articles of clothing, returned to the police car, and requested that the officer transport him to the "Y". When a second officer arrived at the boarding house, appellant directed both officers to a room where the deceased, having been murdered with an ax, lay in a bed on which was found a Bible. Appellant then pointed to another room and stated, "He is in there, the one that did it is in there." A search of the indicated room revealed no person to be present. One of the officers asked appellant whether he knew anything about the crime and received a reply that the death was no accident and had to have occurred because the victim did not live right. No forcible entry had been made into the building, and, at the time of the murder, appellant was the only tenant having access to the premises. Clothing owned by appellant, which was stained with blood matching that of the deceased, was discovered in the building.
Psychiatrists examined appellant and on both March 25, 1974 and June 12, 1974 recommended to the court that he be determined incompetent for trial. On July 24, 1974, however, the psychiatrists concluded that appellant had become competent; hence, the court ruled him competent for trial, and, after a plea of not guilty was entered, trial commenced on November 19, 1974.
After a thorough review of the record of the evidentiary hearing, we...
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Wisehart v. State
...Rose v. State, 617 So.2d 291, 294 (Fla.1993); State v. Garrett, 182 W.Va. 166, 386 S.E.2d 823, 830 (1989); Commonwealth v. Mizell, 493 Pa. 161, 425 A.2d 424, 426 (1981). Another type of situation involving a conflict between the defenses of innocence and insanity caused the court to grant r......
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...their innocence. See id. at 434-35 (distinguishing Commonwealth v. Cross, 535 Pa. 38, 634 A.2d 173 (1993), and Commonwealth v. Mizell, 493 Pa. 161, 425 A.2d 424 (1981)). Because the sole issue at trial was Betty Legg's mental state at the time of the shooting, not whether she killed her hus......
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Com. v. Yasipour
...To plead the defense of insanity suggests that the defendant committed the act, but was not legally culpable. Commonwealth v. Mizell, 493 Pa. 161, 164, 425 A.2d 424, 426 (1981). An insanity defense focuses upon a defendant's capacity, at the time of the offense, to understand the nature and......
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...v. Cross, 535 Pa. 38, 634 A.2d 173 (1993), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 833, 115 S.Ct. 109, 130 L.Ed.2d 56 (1994), and Commonwealth v. Mizell, 493 Pa. 161, 425 A.2d 424 (1981), are distinguishable. In each of those cases, this Court held that trial counsel was not ineffective for failing to advan......