Early v. People

• Decision Date: 25 April 1960
• Docket Number: No. 19013,19013
• Citation: Early v. People, 352 P.2d 112, 142 Colo. 462 (Colo. 1960)
• Parties: David Francis EARLY, Plaintiff in Error, v. PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Defendant in Error.
• Court: Colorado Supreme Court

Page 112

352 P.2d 112

142 Colo. 462

David Francis EARLY, Plaintiff in Error, v. PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Defendant in Error.

No. 19013.

Supreme Court of Colorado, En Banc.

April 25, 1960.

Rehearing Denied May 31, 1960.

Earl J. Hower, Denver, for plaintiff in error.

Duke W. Dunbar, Atty. Gen., Frank E Hickey, Deputy Atty. Gen., Gerald Harrison, Asst. Atty. Gen., for defendant in error.

Charles Ginsberg, Denver, amicus curiae.

DOYLE, Justice.

Plaintiff in error was the defendant in the trial court and will be so referred to herein. By an information filed May 2, 1958, it was charged that on April 25, 1958 defendant killed and murdered Regina Knight. He entered pleas of not guilty and of not guilty by reason of insanity at the time of the alleged commission of the offense. The trial court ordered the trial of the issues thus formed to be consolidated and the case was tried commencing November 17, 1958. The jury found the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree and fixed the punishment at death. Thereupon, writ of error was issued.

There is no dispute as to the actual facts of the homicide. In fact, counsel for defendant conceded at the trial that if the evidence established beyond a reasonable doubt the sanity of the defendant the facts established his guilt of murder. (Counsel contended, however, that the jury should have been allowed to consider murder in the second degree.)

Defendant was released from a federal penitentiary on April 22, 1958. He immediately came to Denver and went to the office of Merrill Knight, a Denver attorney who had befriended him in the past. He made efforts to contact Knight in the latter's office and on the night of April 24, 1958 made plans to burglarize the Knight home and to rob members of the family. With this in mind he tried but was unsuccessful in his efforts to obtain a gun. Defendant said that he was convinced that he would again become involved in trouble and that this was his motivation for the robbery. He then intended to go to Texas or Mexico. He decided to rob the Knights merely because they were well off and accessible. The fact that Knight had befriended him was not significant in defendant's thinking.

On Saturday, April 25, he took a taxicab to the Knight home located in Arapahoe County on the outskirts of Denver. Finding no one at home, he entered the house through the back door, searched it and found a 32-caliber pistol with four shells and also a rifle which he loaded. He then gathered up what money he could find and waited for the Knights to return. As individual members of the family arrived home, he bound and gagged them and waited for the others. By evening both Mr. and Mrs. Knight, their son, Kenneth, and a daughter, Karen, had been tied up and imprisoned in different rooms of the house. According to defendant's statement, his plan was to rob them and leave them bound and gagged so as to provide him time for a get-away. Although Mr. Knight was was bound hand and foot, he managed to stand up and hobble around the room and refused to obey defendant when he was told to lie down. Defendant shot him three times and then went to the master bedroom and shot Mrs. Knight through the head. The pistol was then empty. Defendant then obtained the rifle, went upstairs and shot and killed Karen. Kenneth had meanwhile managed to free his feet and ran out the front door as the defendant came back downstairs apparently for the purpose of shooting and killing him. One shot was fired at Kenneth at he ran across the front yard. The rifle then jammed, permitting Kenneth to escape. Defendant collected his clothes and tried to get away in one of the Knight cars, but was captured by some of the neighbors who had been alerted by Kenneth. Although defendant harbored some resentment toward Knight, this does not appear as the motive for the killings. The murders were perpetrated coldly and dispassionately because defendant believed it necessary to the success of the robbery and in order to effect his escape.

On the issue of his insanity, the defendant called several witnesses. There were two psychologists; a psychiatrist who had examined the defendant while he had been confined in the Colorado State Hospital in 1955; another psychiatrist testified concerning the defendant's mental condition while he was confined in Leavenworth Penitentiary during the early part of 1958. Two other psychiatrists had examined defendant during the period following the homicide and prior to trial. The testimony of all of these witnesses was more or less consistent in classifying the defendant as a schizophrenic personality with paranoid trends. The doctors conceded the ability of the defendant to recognize right from wrong, but testified that he was unable to refrain from doing wrong.

The People presented five psychiatrists, all of whom testified that the defendant was legally sane. Their testimony was to the effect that the defendant was a 'sociopath' or 'constitutional psychopath.' All of the expert testimony detailed the past life of the defendant and included a full account of the examination which was given him. From this it would appear that although the defendant was highly intelligent, he had also shown a high degree of irresponsibility which had involved him in continuous trouble from the time he was a small boy.

These prosecution physicians were unable to find any system of delusions or other evidence indicating schizophrenia. They conceded the irresponsibility of the accused and said that he was 'put together wrong' but that he was not 'legally insane' in that he had the capacity to recognize right and wrong and to refrain from choosing the wrong course of action.

This question of sanity was one of fact, and since the jury found this fact in accordance with the opinions of eminent expert psychiatrists who from the record presented were entirely justified in their opinions, we are not at liberty to reach a conclusion different from that of the trier of the facts.

It is noteworthy that the trial court was scrupulous in its efforts to insure that the accused had adequate psychiatric testimony. Expert witnesses were brought in from outside the state and the court was careful to appoint other psychiatrists at the defendant's request.

Two of the People's witnesses, Drs. Hilton and Rymer, were called in by the District Attorney immediately after the commission of the crime. The major issue on this review pertains to their examination and testimony. They interviewed the defendant on April 25, 1958 in the Arapahoe County jail prior to his arraignment and before counsel had been appointed to defend him. He had spoken freely to these physicians and from this interview they concluded that he was legally sane. Although they had identified themselves as doctors, they had not revealed that they were psychiatrists and that they were giving the defendant a psychiatric examination. However, at the end of the interview this fact was brought to the attention of the accused and he then stated that he had supposed that they were psychiatrists. It is also inferrable from the testimony of various witnesses that the accused was aware that Drs. Hilton and Rymer were psychiatrists because he was not lacking in such experience. He had had numerous such examinations previously and on a prior occasion had been subjected to the Rorschach psychological test.

A total of 19 errors have been assigned by the defendant. We deem it necessary to consider only those which have been argued. The points raised may be summarized as follows:

1. That it was error for the trial court to receive the testimony of Drs. Hilton and Rymer on rebuttal. This is predicated on the contention that C.R.S. '53, 39-8-1 is said to provide a mandatory and exclusive procedure for raising and trying the issue of insanity in a criminal case. Examination of the accused during confinement and before arraignment violated the statute and is contrary to the due process and equal protection guarantees of the Colorado and United States constitutions.

2. That the trial court erred in allowing Drs. Rymer and Hilton to testify concerning results of the examination which was had immediately after the arrest of the defendant. It is contended that this constituted compulsory self-incrimination in violation of the Colorado constitution.

3. That the court erred in submitting the case to the jury on the basis of C.R.S. '53, 40-2-3. It is claimed that this section, which classifies murder committed in the perpetration of arson, rape, robbery, mayhem or burglary, as first-degree murder, is unconstitutional in that it deprives the accused of his right to a jury trial with respect to the essential element of malice, and is thus in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, Constitution of the United States and Article II, Section 23, Constitution of Colorado.

4. That defendant was deprived of a fair and impartial trial in that the jury reached a verdict following deliberations which required only 25 minutes. It is said that the jury thus failed and refused to read and consider the instructions of the court and that it followed its preconceived notions concerning the guilt of the defendant.

I.

The question whether the statutory procedure is so exclusive that it prevents other examinations.

C.R.S. '53, 39-8-1 provides:

'Plea of insanity.--(1) If one of the defenses of the defendant is insanity, it must be pleaded at the same time with all other pleas, unless it is to be the sole plea to the charge. It must be pleaded orally, either by defendant or by his counsel, in the form not guilty by reason of insanity at the time of the alleged commission of the crime. A defendant who does not plead not guilty by reason of insanity shall be conclusively presumed to have been sane at the time of the commission of the offense charged, provided that the court for good cause shown may allow a change of plea at any time before the commencement of trial. A...