Mayben v. State
Decision Date | 18 June 1993 |
Citation | 629 So.2d 723 |
Parties | Jonathan David MAYBEN v. STATE. CR 92-398. |
Court | Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals |
Mac Downs, Gadsden, for appellant.
James H. Evans, Atty. Gen., and Gregory O. Griffin, Sr., Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
Jonathan David Mayben, the appellant, was convicted for attempted murder and was sentenced to life without parole as a habitual felony offender with four prior convictions. He raises two issues on this direct appeal from that conviction.
The appellant's conviction must be reversed because of the improper admission of a forensic evaluation report.
Prior to trial, defense counsel filed a "motion for court-ordered mental examination of defendant." C.R. 8. Psychologist Karl Kirkland examined the appellant and prepared an "outpatient forensic evaluation report." He concluded that the appellant was both competent to stand trial and sane at the time of the offense:
The forensic evaluation report contained the forensic psychologist's diagnosis of the appellant and the information upon which that diagnosis was based. The report stated that it was based on information "obtained from data supplied by the district attorney's office of Etowah County, previous treatment records, interviews with the defendant, and materials supplied by the defendant's mother and an interview with the defendant himself." C.R. 98. The report contained a "summary of alleged offense," which included statements attributed to the victim and the appellant. It also contained numerous statements allegedly made by the appellant to the psychologist including the appellant's admissions concerning suicide attempts, sexual history, and extensive drug and alcohol abuse. The report contains information which is extremely prejudicial to the appellant and which is not admissible in evidence.
The appellant entered pleas of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. At trial, he presented lay witnesses as to his mental condition and abnormal behavior. The appellant testified in his own defense and stated that he was insane at the time of the crime. R. 145. On cross-examination of the appellant, the prosecutor was allowed, over objection, to introduce into evidence the entire "outpatient forensic evaluation report." Apparently, the trial judge accepted the prosecutor's argument that the report should be admitted "[o]n the basis on the medical business records that have been presented to the court pursuant to the court's order, and ... is a part of this court file." R. 152.
A significant portion of the prosecutor's closing argument to the jury was spent on the forensic evaluation report. Portions of the prosecutor's argument were prefaced by the phrase "Dr. Kirkland says," or "Dr. Kirkland tells." R. 244, 247. The prosecutor emphasized Dr. Kirkland's qualifications and that while Dr. Kirkland, a forensic psychologist, had found the appellant sane, no psychiatrist or psychologist had testified for the appellant. Moreover, the prosecutor urged the jury to read the entire report: R. 244.
Indeed, the entire case hinged on whether the jury "believed" the "testimony" of Dr. Kirkland. As the prosecutor argued in his final closing argument to the jury:
No hospital records were admitted into evidence.
In his instructions to the jury, the trial judge stated:
"I charge you, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, witnesses have testified in this case.
In this case, we are not concerned with records from a state mental hospital or with any "medical examination" exception to the hearsay rule. See White v. Illinois, 502 U.S. 346, 112 S.Ct. 736, 116 L.Ed.2d 848 (1992). Here, the evaluation was conducted by a clinical psychologist in the medical offices of Kilby Prison. C.R. 97. This evaluation was not shown to qualify as a "hospital record" under Ala.Code 1975, § 12-21-5. See Ex parte Frith, 526 So.2d 880, 883 (Ala.1987), holding that a letter written by a Bryce Hospital staff psychiatrist and sent to a psychiatric social worker who was a defense witness was not a hospital record. See also C. Gamble, McElroy's Alabama Evidence § 254.01(7) (4th ed. 1991).
The comments of the Alabama Supreme Court in Ex parte Baker, 473 So.2d 1130 (Ala.1985), are applicable.
Ex parte Baker, 473 So.2d at 1131. See also Grantham v. State, 580 So.2d 53, 55 (Ala.Cr.App.1991) ( ).
Furthermore, even if the forensic evaluation report in this case be considered a "hospital record," its admission without the presence of Dr. Kirkland denied the appellant his constitutional rights of confrontation and cross-examination.
W. Schroeder and J. Hoffman, Alabama Evidence § 8-3(6)(a)(2), 426 (2d ed. 1993).
Hutchens v. State, 45 Ala.App. 507, 518, 232 So.2d 687, 697, cert. denied, 285 Ala. 755, 232 So.2d 700 (1970), quoted in Pickett v. State, 456 So.2d 330, 333 (Ala.Cr.App.1982).
In Lowery v. State, 55 Ala.App. 514, 518-20, 317 So.2d 365, 369-70, cert. denied, 294 Ala. 763, 317 So.2d 372 (1975), this Court noted:
We also held in Lowery that, under what is now § 12-21-101, "a certified copy of a death certificate cannot be used alone to prove the cause of death as alleged in a murder indictment where the physician attending the deceased at the time of his death, and who signed the death certificate, was within the state, but was not...
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...from the custodian, but only, by the explicit terms of that statute, when the original would be admissible.’ " Mayben v. State, 629 So.2d 723, 726 (Ala. Crim. App. 1993). See also Lowery v. State, 55 Ala. App. 514, 520, 317 So.2d 365, 370 (1975) ("[A] certified copy of a death certificate c......
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D.E.R. v. State
...from the custodian, but only, by the explicit terms of that statute, when the original would be admissible.'"Mayben v. State, 629 So. 2d 723, 726 (Ala. Crim. App. 1993). See also Lowery v. State, 55 Ala. App. 514, 520, 317 So. 2d 365, 370 (1975)("[A] certified copy of a death certificate ca......
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