Galloway v. State, F-84-453
| Decision Date | 18 April 1985 |
| Docket Number | No. F-84-453,F-84-453 |
| Citation | 698 P.2d 940 |
| Parties | Glen Byron GALLOWAY, Appellant, v. STATE of Oklahoma, Appellee. |
| Court | United States State Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma. Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma |
Glen Byron Galloway, appellant, was convicted of Murder in the First Degree in Canadian County District Court, Case No. CRF-82-516. He was sentenced to a term of life imprisonment, and appeals. REVERSED and REMANDED.
Cliff E. Briery, Seminole, for appellant.
Michael C. Turpen, Atty. Gen., Tomilou Gentry Liddell, Asst. Atty. Gen., Oklahoma City, for appellee.
Glen Byron Galloway, appellant, was convicted of Murder in the First Degree in Canadian County District Court and sentenced to life imprisonment. Upon his appeal, we find the conviction must be reversed and his case remanded for new trial.
Appellant raises two assignments of error; and, because we agree with his second one that he was denied effective assistance of counsel, we do not reach the first.
The decedent, Charley Chesshir, was a neighbor to appellant and they lived on a rural road in Oklahoma City. On the morning of November 29, 1982, appellant killed Chesshir by repeatedly shooting, stabbing and beating him.
Appellant was apprehended within a few hours of the crime and confessed to his deeds. He claimed to have driven demons out of the victim at the direction of God, according to the statement he gave to Detective Rupert who interviewed him that day. He told Detective Rupert he had immediately gone home and told his wife that he had killed the Devil. He also told Detective Rupert that at some period in his life he had been on the drug LSD.
Each officer who had contact with appellant that morning and who testified at his trial, stated that appellant made repeated, vague religious statements such as "bless me, Jesus" and "thank you, God." And, each witness who testified and who had had contact with appellant near in time to the killing related bizarre behavior on his behalf. Further, there was testimony that the arresting officers recovered a white medicine bottle from near appellant's truck with the label containing the words "poison" and "methadone." This was introduced at trial, but there was no evidence of drug intoxication.
At the end of the State's evidence, without making an opening statement or introducing any evidence, defense counsel rested. The judge did agree to instruct the jury regarding the insanity defense.
Appellant's motion for new trial was interposed by a different attorney than the one who represented him at trial. At the hearing on his motion, counsel presented a number of affidavits of witnesses who had been ready and available to testify on behalf of appellant, but who trial counsel refused to call. It appears that a great deal of evidence of appellant's existing mental illness was available, and appellant's counsel failed in presenting his only defense to the jury for consideration.
The affidavits submitted with the motion for new trial included that of seven witnesses, two expert and five lay. The first was that of Dr. Borrell, a psychiatrist who had been treating appellant for three months prior to the homicide. He stated among other things that he was aware of the circumstances surrounding the incident and believed appellant's mental illness prevented him from distinguishing right and wrong at the time. He also knew from urine tests that appellant had not been taking drugs other than those prescribed in the weeks preceding the killing.
The affidavit of a psychologist who had examined and tested appellant stated it was his opinion that he could not adhere to the right.
Five lay witnesses, including appellant's wife, brother, and business partner, stated they had observed appellant in the days preceding the homicide and were available to testify, but were never called to do so, and that his behavior had been extremely irrational for a period prior to the killing. His pastor had talked with him a day after the arrest and offered their taped telephone conversation in which appellant related that he believed he had killed the Devil and that he was Jesus Christ.
Apart from these witnesses, the State's expert who testified at a pre-trial competency hearing stated that appellant was suffering from delusions with paranoid ideation and from paranoid schizophrenia. This witness was not called to testify at trial.
The question of defense counsel's ineffectiveness rests on whether his or hers performance...
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