People v. Spears

• Decision Date: 04 August 1978
• Docket Number: No. 76-430,76-430
• Citation: 63 Ill.App.3d 510,380 N.E.2d 423,20 Ill.Dec. 445
• Parties: , 20 Ill.Dec. 445 The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Larry D. SPEARS, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 423

380 N.E.2d 423

63 Ill.App.3d 510, 20 Ill.Dec. 445

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Larry D. SPEARS, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 76-430.

Appellate Court of Illinois, Fifth District.

Aug. 4, 1978.

Michael J. Rosborough, Deputy State Appellate Defender, A. Michael Kopec, Asst. State Appellate Defender, Fifth Judicial District, Mount Vernon, David Y. Eberspacher, Research Asst., University of Tennessee School of Law, for defendant-appellant.

Nicholas G. Byron, State's Atty., Edwardsville, Bruce D. Irish, Deputy Director, Raymond F. Buckley, Jr., Staff Atty., State's Attys. Appellate Service Commission, Mount Vernon, for plaintiff-appellee.

JONES, Justice.

Defendant-appellant Larry D. Spears was charged by indictment with armed robbery and attempt murder in violation of section 18-2(a) and 8-4(a) of the Criminal Code (Ill.Rev.Stat.1975, ch. 38, pars. 8-4(a), 18-2(a)). Defendant was found guilty by a jury on June 16, 1976 and was sentenced to concurrent prison terms of 7 to 21 years on each offense. Defendant contends on appeal that the State failed to meet its burden on the issue of defendant's sanity at the time of the offense and that he was denied a fair trial as a result of prejudicial remarks and incorrect statements made by the prosecution during closing arguments. Defendant also argues that he should have been given sentence credit for the period he spent in federal institutions by reason of his unfitness to stand trial in federal court for the same offense.

Defendant was arrested on August 6, 1973 by the East Alton police for robbing the State Bank of East Alton and shooting a bank guard during the course of the robbery. Defendant was released to the custody of the F.B.I. in order to stand trial on federal charges stemming from the bank robbery. Defendant refused to speak during his arraignment and preliminary hearing on the federal charges and on September 21, 1973 the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois ordered defendant committed to the Federal Medical Center in Springfield, Missouri for a determination of his competency to stand trial. A psychiatric evaluation made by the staff of the Federal Medical Center found that defendant was presently mentally ill and incompetent to stand trial. On February 22, 1974 the District Court found defendant Spears mentally incompetent to stand trial and committed the defendant to the Federal Medical Center in Springfield until such time as he became competent to stand trial or until an alternative disposition was reached. Later psychiatric evaluations concluded that Spears was still incompetent to stand trial and recommended long term hospitalization. The federal charges against Spears were dismissed by the U. S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois on December 12, 1975, in view of defendant's incompetency to stand trial.

Defendant Spears was charged by indictment in Madison County with armed robbery and attempt murder on December 11, 1975. Defendant pleaded not guilty to these Madison County charges and filed a motion requesting a determination of his competency to stand trial. Pursuant to court order defendant was examined on January 28, 1976 by Dr. John Goldsborough who determined that Spears was suffering from schizophrenia in a partial state of remission and that he could cooperate with an attorney in his own defense. The case was set for trial on June 14, 1976.

The State presented several witnesses for purposes of identifying defendant and describing his behavior on the day of the robbery and shooting.

Lydia Heathcott, a teller at the Illinois State Bank of East Alton, testified that defendant stepped up to her cage, placed a valise on the counter and told her to fill it with money. When she responded by grinning or giggling, a defendant peeled back part of the valise and drew her attention to a gun inside it which he had pointed at her. There were no policemen or security guards in sight. As she began to push bundles of money across the counter towards Spears, she turned and looked at the nearest bank employee in an attempt to attract his attention to her predicament. Defendant responded by warning her not to look at anyone, and when she attempted to pass him her smaller denominations of bills, he demanded bigger bills.

Robert Green, the bank security guard, testified that he was quickly informed of the robbery and that he ran out of the bank shouting at defendant to halt. Green stated that Spears did not halt but instead ran behind his car, levelled a gun across the top of the car and opened fire at the guard. One of the shots grazed him on the ribs. Green returned the fire and managed to get around the back of defendant's car and shoot Spears in the leg. The guard then took the defendant's empty gun and ordered him to put his hands on the car and "spread eagle out." The defendant followed these instructions. After he was subdued Spears did not say anything except to agree with Green's comment that defendant was a lousy shot.

The arresting officer, Dennis Childs, testified that while he was with defendant at the bank and at the jail, Spears followed instructions and appeared normal but did not say a word. He seemed to stare most of the time. The only exchange between them was when defendant thanked Childs for bringing a cup of coffee to his cell.

After the prosecution rested its case, defense counsel read the four psychiatric and psychological evaluations from the Federal Medical Center made between 1973 and 1975 into the record on stipulation of the State's Attorney. These staff reports indicated the examiners' opinion that defendant was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia with little chance of recovery and that he was in need of long-term hospitalization. The most specific report was the third in the series, a psychological report dated April 8, 1975. In that report, defendant Spears was described as fairly neat in appearance and polite. He spoke easily and displayed a sardonic smile at appropriate times. His statements were coherent, well phrased and articulate. The interviewer stated that Spears claimed an inability to remember the bank robbery except in disconnected flashes and that upon further questioning, he suggested that his behavior may have been controlled by a small radio device that moved about in his alimentary canal. Spears stated that the device was not affecting his behavior any longer. The psychologists concluded that Mr. Spears was of superior intelligence but was suffering from a serious disturbance of his emotional thought processes.

The U. S. Magistrate who had authorized the federal arrest warrant for Larry Spears testified that, except for stating his name, the defendant had remained completely silent during the hearing on the warrant and at a later meeting in the magistrate's office at which he was represented by counsel.

Michael Urban, an East Alton police officer who was with Spears from the time of the arrest until after booking, testified that defendant did not speak for the entire time except to say "thank you" to Urban for his offer to get medical assistance for defendant's leg. It was Urban's impression that Spears had been booked "many, many times" before and was refusing to speak in order to give the police a hard time.

The next defense witness was Dr. John Goldsborough, a specialist in neuropsychiatry, who described his assessment of defendant's mental condition based on an examination made at the Madison County jail on March 28, 1976 pursuant to an order of the circuit court. Dr. Goldsborough's diagnosis was that defendant was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and was subject to severe depression. At the time of the March 28 examination Dr. Goldsborough did not have any information regarding defendant's medical history, but prior to trial the doctor learned that Spears had spent 17 days in a California mental institution after attempting suicide in 1970. Dr. Goldsborough testified that this history seemed to be compatible with what he had found during the 1976 examination and might indicate that Spears had been schizophrenic for at least 6 to 7 years. Dr. Goldsborough expressed a suspicion that had defendant seen a psychiatrist in 1969, he would have been diagnosed as schizophrenic. Dr. Goldsborough stated that a person subject to a schizophrenic process may hallucinate and hear voices which may advise him to take action which normally would be inappropriate, inadvisable or even illegal. The doctor added that paranoid schizophrenics usually suffer from delusions, paranoid fears and depression which impair good judgment and that if Larry Spears was suffering from schizophrenia at the time of the bank robbery, his judgment would have been so impaired that he would not have been totally aware of the criminality of his conduct. On cross-examination Dr. Goldsborough testified that he had no way of determining beyond a doubt that defendant could not have appreciated the criminality of the robbery and shooting on August 6, 1973. He said that the schizophrenic process is subject to partial remission and that it is possible that Spears did appreciate the criminality of the robbery and shooting on the date in question.

The testimony of defendant Spears, which was later corroborated by a pre-sentence investigation and report, indicated that Spears had earned a B.A. and an M.S. in physics and a law degree. He had also completed substantial work on a Ph.D. in physics at the University of Arizona. Defendant had been married and had one child, but was divorced while he was attending law school. Defendant left Arizona and went to California in 1970 where he attempted suicide by cutting his wrists and spent 17 days in a state mental institution.

The release summary of that institution indicates that defendant was discharged as not mentally ill. The report indicated further that defendant did not show any evidence of psychosis and that he...