Hoey v. State

• Decision Date: 05 February 1988
• Docket Number: No. 11,11
• Citation: 536 A.2d 622,311 Md. 473
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals
• Parties: John Gerard HOEY, Jr. v. STATE of Maryland. Sept. Term 1986.

Page 473

311 Md. 473

536 A.2d 622

John Gerard HOEY, Jr. v. STATE of Maryland.

No. 11 Sept. Term 1986.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

Feb. 5, 1988.

George Lipman and George E. Burns, Jr., Asst. Public Defenders, Baltimore (Alan H. Murrell, Public Defender, and Kathleen M. Brown, Assigned Public Defender, on the brief) for appellant.

Richard B. Rosenblatt, Asst. Atty. Gen., Baltimore (Stephen H. Sachs, Atty. Gen., on the brief) for appellee.

Argued before MURPHY, C.J., and SMITH, ^* ELDRIDGE, COLE, RODOWSKY, COUCH ^* and McAULIFFE, JJ.

COLE, Judge.

We shall answer three questions in this appeal: (1) Were the defendant's confessions, under the circumstances presented, properly admitted at trial? (2) Was the testimony of a treating psychiatrist, introduced by the State to rebut the defendant's proof of his lack of criminal responsibility, admissible when the State failed to disclose the expert witness to the defendant during discovery? and (3) Was it constitutional to place the burden of proof on the defendant to show that he was "not criminally responsible" for the crimes he committed?

We summarize the facts as follows. On January 14, 1985, John Hoey threw a Molotov cocktail at a building in Baltimore County. Detective Norman Snyder of the Baltimore County Police Department Arson Squad was called to investigate the incident. The next day police officer Jeffrey Parry, having heard a police broadcast that Hoey was a suspect, stopped Hoey at a convenience store and notified Detective Snyder. When Detective Snyder arrived at the convenience store, he arrested Hoey and searched the car Hoey was driving. Detective Snyder's search uncovered illegal weapons. Based on these facts, Hoey was charged with attempted storehouse burning, possession of a Molotov cocktail, and wearing or carrying a concealed and dangerous weapon. A police officer took Hoey to the station, where Detective Snyder, using the Baltimore County Police Department's standard rights and waiver form, ¹ advised Hoey of his rights under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). Detective Snyder read each right out loud and underlined each word as he read it so that Hoey could read along. Hoey placed his initials beside each line and signed the waiver form. Within fifteen minutes, Hoey orally confessed to the crimes and wrote out an inculpatory statement.

Prior to Hoey's trial, Hoey's attorney moved to suppress Hoey's confessions because they were "involuntary and/or elicited during custodial interrogation without the observance of mandatory procedural safeguards required by law." At the suppression hearing, Dr. Michael Spodak, an expert in the field of forensic psychiatry, testified for the defense that he had examined Hoey on March 27, 1985, and that Hoey suffered from schizophrenia. Dr. Spodak further testified that Hoey's mental disorder rendered him incapable of making a knowing, voluntary, and intelligent waiver of his rights. To buttress Dr. Spodak's conclusion, Hoey's father testified that Hoey had been acting peculiarly and abnormally on January 14, 1985. Hoey testified that he felt fine on the day of his arrest, but that his only recollections of the police interrogation were that he was not allowed to make a phone call and Detective Snyder promised him that the State would go easy on him if he confessed.

In response to this testimony, Officer Parry testified that when Hoey was stopped, Hoey appeared cognizant of his surroundings and responded normally to questions and directives. Detective Snyder testified that at the time Hoey waived his rights and confessed, he appeared to understand what was happening and answered questions responsively. Detective Snyder also testified that after Hoey orally confessed, he suggested to Hoey that he make a written confession because it would protect both parties from any later disagreements as to what Hoey had actually admitted. Detective Snyder expressly denied making any promise of leniency to Hoey in exchange for a confession.

After all the witnesses had testified at the suppression hearing, the trial judge found as a fact that Detective Snyder had not promised Hoey that the State would go easy on him if he confessed. The trial judge also found that Hoey's statements had been made freely, voluntarily, and capably. Accordingly, the judge denied Hoey's motion to suppress.

At trial, Hoey entered both a plea of not guilty and a plea of not criminally responsible. During the State's case in chief, Detective Snyder testified that Hoey orally admitted throwing a Molotov cocktail at the building in question. In addition, the State introduced Hoey's written confession and corroborating evidence to support the offenses charged. Hoey then attempted to prove, through the testimony of Dr. Spodak, that he was not criminally responsible for his acts. In rebuttal, the State called to the stand Dr. David Helsel, Hoey's treating psychiatrist from January 15, 1985 until February, 1985. Defense counsel objected to the admission of Dr. Helsel's testimony because the State had not disclosed its intention to call Dr. Helsel as a witness, and thus defense counsel was unprepared to cross-examine Dr. Helsel. The trial judge adjourned court early that day to permit defense counsel time to prepare. The trial judge allowed Dr. Helsel to testify the next morning.

At the conclusion of the trial, the jury was instructed that the State had the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt on each element of the offenses and that Hoey had the burden of proof by a preponderance of the evidence on the issue of his lack of criminal responsibility. Hoey objected to the burden of proof instruction. The jury found Hoey guilty of, and criminally responsible for, each charge. Hoey appealed his convictions to the Court of Special Appeals, but we granted certiorari before consideration by the intermediate appellate court.

I

We shall first address the question of whether Hoey's confessions were properly admitted at trial. In Maryland, a defendant's confession is only admissible if it is (1) voluntary under Maryland nonconstitutional law, (2) voluntary under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article 22 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights, ² and (3) elicited in conformance with the mandates of Miranda. See Lodowski v. State, 307 Md. 233, 250, 513 A.2d 299, 308-09 (1986) (Lodowski II ); Colorado v. Connelly, --- U.S. ----, 107 S.Ct. 515, 93 L.Ed.2d 473 (1986). Hoey contends that his confessions and waiver were involuntary because he suffered from a mental disability and Detective Snyder coerced the statements from him. The State argues that there was sufficient evidence presented to the trial judge to support a finding that Hoey's confessions and waiver were voluntary. We agree with the State that Hoey's confessions were voluntary and thus properly admitted. We explain.

A.

We shall first examine whether Hoey's confessions were voluntary under Maryland nonconstitutional law. A confession is voluntary under Maryland nonconstitutional law if it is "freely and voluntarily made at a time when [the defendant] knew and understood what he was saying." Wiggins v. State, 235 Md. 97, 102, 200 A.2d 683, 686, cert. denied, 379 U.S. 861, 85 S.Ct. 123, 13 L.Ed.2d 64 (1964); see also Lodowski II, 307 Md. at 254, 513 A.2d at 310-311 (quoting State v. Hill, 2 Md.App. 594, 601-602, 236 A.2d 27, 31 (1967)); Mundell v. State, 244 Md. 91, 93, 223 A.2d 184, 185 (1966).

The first step in determining whether a confession is voluntary under Maryland nonconstitutional law is to determine whether the defendant was mentally capable of making a confession. In McCleary v. State, 122 Md. 394, 89 A. 1100 (1914), the defendant claimed that his confession was inadmissible because he was mentally irresponsible at the time he confessed. There was testimony before the trial judge that on the eve of the defendant's confession he heard groans, saw ghosts, and thought he was fighting wild beasts. There was also testimony that the day after the defendant's confession he spoke irrationally and incoherently. The State's Attorney and jail physician, however, testified that while the defendant may have been excited on the day he confessed, he was far from being irrational. This Court held that the question was not whether the defendant "was mentally agitated, but [whether he] was ... so far deprived of his sense of reason as not to be responsible for what he may have done or said." Id. at 402, 89 A. at 1103. Thus, the Court concluded that there was sufficient evidence to support the trial court's conclusion that the defendant was mentally capable of understanding what he said when he confessed. Id. at 403, 89 A. at 1104.

Similarly, in Wiggins, supra, the defendant argued that his confession was inadmissible because his mental condition was impaired due to alcohol withdrawal. The defendant suffered delirium tremens and had hallucinations while he was in police custody. At trial, the defendant produced evidence that the day after he confessed he told the police that "he had rabbits in his hands and had pulled 'angel's hair' from his body." Id. 235 Md. at 101, 200 A.2d at 686. In addition, the defendant showed that two days after he confessed, the Crownsville State Hospital diagnosed him as having acute temporary brain syndrome. Several police officers, however, testified that the defendant's speech was coherent and his answers were rational on the day of his confession. Moreover, the State presented evidence that the symptoms and conditions of an individual withdrawing from excessive alcohol use may vary from day to day and are easily feigned.

In resolving the case, the Wiggins Court reasoned that "[t]he crucial question was not whether [the defendant] was suffering from the effects of withdrawal from excessive alcoholic indulgences when he gave [his confessions], but whether his disclosures to...