Commonwealth v. McLaughlin

• Decision Date: 15 May 2000
• Citation: 729 NE 2d 252,431 Mass. 506
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH v. GEORGE F. MCLAUGHLIN.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

431 Mass. 506

729 NE 2d 252

COMMONWEALTH v. GEORGE F. MCLAUGHLIN.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Suffolk, Norfolk.

January 6, 2000.

May 15, 2000.

Present: MARSHALL, C.J., ABRAMS, LYNCH, GREANEY, IRELAND, SPINA, & COWIN, JJ.

Patricia A. O'Neill, Committee for Public Counsel Services (Beverly J. Cannone, Committee for Public Counsel Services, with her) for the defendant.

Melissa Weisgold Johnsen, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth.

SPINA, J.

After a jury trial, the defendant, George F. McLaughlin, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and arson of a dwelling house and not guilty by reason of insanity of two charges of murder in the first degree. The only issue at trial was whether the defendant was criminally responsible at the time of his acts. The trial judge committed McLaughlin to Bridgewater State Hospital (Bridgewater) and stayed the execution of sentence on his convictions until after his release from Bridgewater. Having granted McLaughlin's application for direct appellate review, we affirm his convictions. We conclude, however, that the judge erred in staying execution of sentence until after McLaughlin's release from commitment.

McLaughlin was not convicted of murder in the first degree. We therefore do not review his appeal pursuant to G. L. c. 278, § 33E. See Commonwealth v. Cullen, 395 Mass. 225, 228 (1985). A verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity is not a "conviction" within the meaning of § 33E. Cf. Commonwealth v. Doane, 428 Mass. 631, 631-632 (1999). McLaughlin does not ask us for § 33E review in any event.

1. McLaughlin does not dispute that, shortly after killing Albert Myers and David Wallace at the nursing home where he and they worked, he set a fire in his room that resulted in the death of Cedric Clarke, who resided in the room above McLaughlin's. McLaughlin's sole defense at trial was that he was insane at the time he committed these acts. Once the issue of insanity was raised, the Commonwealth was required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that McLaughlin was sane (criminally responsible) when he committed the crimes with which he was charged. See Commonwealth v. Keita, 429 Mass. 843, 849 (1999). To meet this burden, the Commonwealth was required to show beyond a reasonable doubt either that McLaughlin had no mental disease or defect or that he had the substantial capacity both to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct and to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law. See Commonwealth v. Goudreau, 422 Mass. 731, 735 (1996), citing Commonwealth v. McHoul, 352 Mass. 544, 546-547 (1967). McLaughlin argues that the jury's verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity on the murder in the first degree charges requires the same verdict on the other charges. He contends that the judge erred in denying his motion for a required finding of not guilty by reason of insanity. To answer this contention, we must decide whether any rational jury could have come to the four verdicts. See Commonwealth v. Cullen, supra at 228; Commonwealth v. Lunde, 390 Mass. 42, 47 (1983).

"[T]he rule is well established in criminal cases that mere inconsistency in verdicts ... will not render the verdict of guilty erroneous even though such inconsistency may have indicated the possibility of compromise on the part of the jury." Commonwealth v. Sherry, 386 Mass. 682, 698 (1982), quoting Commonwealth v. Scott, 355 Mass. 471, 475 (1969). Accordingly, "a defendant may be found not guilty by reason of insanity or impaired mental condition as to one charge, and guilty as to other charges, even where all arise out of the same criminal episode." People v. Bielecki, 964 P.2d 598, 605 (Colo. Ct. App. 1998). See Commonwealth v. Chandler, 29 Mass. App. Ct. 571, 580-581 (1990).

We are not persuaded that the verdicts in this case were inconsistent. McLaughlin told police that he undertook to kill Myers and Wallace and one or more residents of his apartment building because he believed they were harming him with highfrequency beams. He carried out the plan against his first two victims, but decided after he got home that he would not kill anyone else. In his own words, he "just couldn't go through with it"; he had "just had enough." Instead, he elected to burn down his apartment. Before leaving the building, he told a fellow tenant about the fire. McLaughlin thought that the building's fire alarm would alert all the tenants to the fire. In light of this evidence, the jury could have found that McLaughlin's mental condition abated by the time he reached his home so that he was sane, according to the McHoul definition of sanity, when he set fire to his apartment. The jury could also have found that they were not satisfied to the same degree of certainty that McLaughlin was sane when he killed Myers and Wallace. These conclusions are not logically contradictory. Cf. Hotema v. United States, 186 U.S. 413, 421 (1902); Commonwealth v. Rogers, 7 Met. 500, 502 (1844) (charge to jury by Chief Justice Shaw); State v. Snow, 513 A.2d 274, 277-278 (Me. 1986). The inferences to be drawn from the evidence were for the jury to make. See Commonwealth v. Kappler, 416 Mass. 574, 579 & n.4 (1993).¹

McLaughlin attempts to derail this reasoning by positing that the jury could have reached the two guilty verdicts only by relying on the "presumption of sanity."² Relying on the "presumption," he contends, was impermissible in this case because the two not guilty by reason of insanity verdicts necessarily imply that the "presumption" does not apply to McLaughlin. We disagree. The verdicts of not guilty by reason of insanity did not require the jury to disregard the "presumption." The jury could have relied on the "presumption" to reach guilty verdicts on some charges while concluding that it did not allow a finding of criminal responsibility beyond a reasonable doubt as to other charges. See Commonwealth v. Kostka, 370 Mass. 516, 528-529 (1976) (in Massachusetts, "presumption of sanity" does not disappear from case after evidence of insanity has been introduced). 2. McLaughlin also argues that the prosecutor prejudiced the case by presenting inflammatory, irrelevant testimony and by rousing the jury in his closing argument. The testimony was of a bystander who witnessed rescuers' attempts to retrieve Clarke from McLaughlin's apartment building using a ladder. Before the rescuers could reach him, Clarke jumped or fell from the window of his apartment, landing on the ground. The witness testified that he put his arm around Clarke and cried at him to hold on to life, and that Clarke held on desperately to his arm for a minute, then relaxed his grip. This evidence was not inflammatory. The prosecutor did not mention it in his closing argument.

The closing argument was nonetheless improper. Near the end of the argument, the prosecutor ridiculed the trial's emphasis on the state of mind of the defendant. Shortly afterward, the judge sustained an objection to the prosecutor's utterances. The prosecutor, however, continued in the same vein. He exhorted the jury to consider the rights of the victims and to do justice for them. He then told the jury that "in the end the truth is that this case is all about whether or not he's guilty. It's not whether he's insane or not. The issue for you is whether he's guilty or not guilty. That's the point." (Emphasis added.) He concluded that "[t]he point is, is that he's guilty because you say so. And I'm asking you to say so and hold him accountable and hold him responsible" (emphasis added).

The prosecutor erred egregiously in making these statements. He should not have asked the jury to consider the rights of the victims, see Commonwealth v. Barros, 425 Mass. 572, 581 (1997), or to do justice for them, see Commonwealth v. Drumgold, 423 Mass. 230, 253 (1996). Nor he should not have exhorted the jury to ignore their responsibility under the law, as he did when he told the jury to declare McLaughlin "guilty because you say so" and to ignore the question of his mental condition. Contrary to the prosecutor's suggestion, the case was "all about" McLaughlin's mental condition. The suggestion therefore could have had the effect only of encouraging the jury to find the defendant guilty even if the evidence did not prove criminal responsibility. See Commonwealth v. Santiago, 425 Mass. 491, 501 (1997),S.C., 427 Mass. 298 and 428 Mass. 39, cert. denied, 525 U.S. 1003 (1998). The prosecutor should have considered his obligation to argue the Commonwealth's case "in a way that states the evidence clearly and fairly and inspires confidence that the verdict was reached based on the evidence rather than sympathy." Id. at 494. He did not do so.

We evaluate the effect of prosecutors' inflammatory remarks to the jury according to "whether the improper statements . . . `constituted prejudicial error'" (citation omitted). Commonwealth v. Santiago, supra at 500.

The cumulative effect of all the errors in the context of the entire argument . . . and the case as a whole is considered in making this determination. . . . The following factors are considered: whether defense counsel seasonably objected to the arguments at trial; . . . whether the judge's instructions mitigated the error . . . ; whether the errors in the arguments went to the heart of the issues at trial or concerned collateral matters . . . ; whether the jury would be able to sort out the excessive claims made by the prosecutor . . . ; and whether the Commonwealth's case was so overwhelming that the errors did not prejudice the defendant. . . . (Citations omitted.)

Id.³ Three of the factors weigh in favor of the defendant. McLaughlin's counsel made timely objection to the prosecutor's remarks. Some of the most salient remarks were in fact directed to encouraging the jury to ignore the central issue of the trial. The Commonwealth's case as to the defendant's state of mind cannot be said to have been overwhelming.

...