Com. v. Tyson

• Decision Date: 29 June 1979
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Frederick TYSON, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

Page 995

402 A.2d 995

485 Pa. 344

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Frederick TYSON, Appellant.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Submitted Jan. 8, 1979.

Decided May 31, 1979.

Reargument Denied June 29, 1979.

[485 Pa. 347] Raymond J. Takiff, Philadelphia, for appellant.

Robert B. Lawler, Chief, Appeals Div., Asst. Dist. Atty., Sheldon M. Finkelstein, Philadelphia, for appellee.

Before EAGEN, C. J., and O'BRIEN, ROBERTS, NIX, MANDERINO and LARSEN, JJ.

OPINION

MANDERINO, Justice:

Appellant, Frederick Tyson, was convicted in a nonjury trial of murder in the third degree. Post-verdict motions were denied and a sentence of ten to twenty years was imposed. Appellant now appeals to this Court pursuant to the Appellate Court Jurisdiction Act of 1970, Act of July 31, 1970, P.L. 673, No. 223, Art. II, Section 202, Subsection 1, 17 P.S. § 211.202(1) (Supp.1978-79).

Appellant was convicted of the shooting death of his brother, Chester Tyson, with whom he lived. A neighbor testified that she saw the victim enter the Tyson family home and approximately twenty minutes Appellant raises two issues for our consideration in this appeal. First, that he was incompetent to stand trial and second, that he was not guilty as a matter of law because he lacked the mental capacity required under the MacNaghten Rule.

later heard shots at which time she called the police. The police arrived at the house and, after knocking on the front and back doors, looked through the windows and observed someone in the dining room. An officer then identified himself and ordered the individual to open the door. Appellant opened the door and informed the officer that his brother had been shot. Appellant said be thought someone was upstairs but no one else was found following a search of the house. The basement, where a German Shepard dog was kept, was not searched. The victim, who was still alive, was removed to a hospital where he died approximately one month later. The medical examiner testified that the gunshot wound was the cause of death.

Although the record is clear that appellant had a history of mental illness prior to the shooting death of his brother, that fact is not dispositive of the issues before us. Even though one has a history of mental illness that person may, at a given time, be competent to stand trial and may have been legally sane at the time of the commission of the crime. In this case a hearing was held six days before appellant's trial commenced in order to determine whether appellant was competent to stand trial. The testimony of two qualified psychiatrists established that appellant understood the nature of the charges and was capable of cooperating with counsel in the preparation of his defense. Nonetheless, appellant attacks the basis of their opinions and also contends that the colloquy conducted six days later at the beginning of the trial illustrates his incompetency and alleges the trial judge erred by failing to order a new examination during the trial.

The prosecution asserts that appellant has waived this claim by failing to raise it in post-verdict motions, even though appellant did not properly object at the time of the trial. Ordinarily, the failure to raise an issue in post-verdict motions would constitute a waiver. Commonwealth v. Blair, 460 Pa. 31, 331 A.2d 213 (1975). We have concluded however that when the issue presented is whether a person was competent to stand trial, the waiver rule is not applicable. See Commonwealth v. Marshall, 456 Pa. 313, 319, 318 A.2d 724, 727 (1974). We therefore turn to the merits of the issue of competency.

The test of an accused's competency to stand trial is his "ability to comprehend his position as one accused of murder and to cooperate with his counsel in making a rational defense." (Citations omitted.) Commonwealth ex rel. Hilberry v. Maroney, 424 Pa. 493, 495, 227 A.2d 159, 160 (1967). A finding of competency by the trial court will not be reversed unless it is unsupported by the record. Commonwealth v. Kennedy, 451 Pa. 483, 305 A.2d 890 (1973).

In this case, while appellant did have a history of mental illness, there is adequate support in the record for the trial judge's finding of fact that appellant was competent before and during the trial. Two qualified psychiatrists, both of whom had personally examined the appellant, testified at the competency hearing that appellant qualified under the standards of this Court to stand trial. Appellant also testified at the competency hearing and stated that he knew he was charged with killing his brother in July of 1974. He also indicated that he was able to cooperate with his attorney in preparing a defense. Based on these facts, the court properly found appellant competent to stand trial. Six days later, appellant's trial commenced. At the commencement of trial, the trial judge secured the presence of a member of the court's psychiatric staff to observe appellant's behavior during the scheduled jury trial waiver colloquy. The court's staff psychiatrist then testified that, based on his observation of appellant's conduct during the jury waiver hearing, and on appellant's responses to the questions asked of him by the court and counsel during the colloquy, he was of the Expert testimony at the time of appellant's competency hearing indicated appellant needed medication to sustain a level of competency. Prior to the beginning of his trial appellant did not receive medication for three days. However, the psychiatrist who observed him during the jury trial waiver colloquy and testified as to appellant's competency to stand trial also testified that the level of drugs in the bloodstream would not immediately decrease, that appellant was functioning well, and that appellant did not appear to have been adversely affected by the three-day hiatus in medication. Appellant received his medication daily during the trial and the behavior of appellant during the trial did not at any time warrant the ordering of another competency examination.

opinion that appellant was competent to stand trial. The trial court concurred in that evaluation and trial began.

We conclude that the trial judge did not err in finding appellant competent to stand trial.

Appellant also argues that at the time of the murder he was insane as a matter of law. Appellant does not challenge the long standing definition for insanity in this jurisdiction the MacNaghten test: an accused is legally insane if "at the time he committed the act, either he did not know the nature and quality of the act or he did not know that it was wrong." Commonwealth v. Demmitt, 456 Pa. 475, 481, 321 A.2d 627, 631 (1974).

In cases where there is sufficient evidence present to raise the issue of insanity, the burden of proof is upon the prosecution to establish the appellant's sanity beyond a reasonable doubt. Commonwealth v. Delker, 467 Pa. 305, 356 A.2d...