Sanders v. State

• Decision Date: 12 October 1988
• Citation: 585 A.2d 117
• Parties: Reginald N. SANDERS, Defendant Below, Appellant, v. STATE of Delaware, Plaintiff Below, Appellee. . Submitted:
• Court: Supreme Court of Delaware

Page 117

585 A.2d 117

Reginald N. SANDERS, Defendant Below, Appellant, v. STATE of Delaware, Plaintiff Below, Appellee.

Supreme Court of Delaware.

Submitted: Oct. 12, 1988.

Resubmitted After Supplemental Briefing: April 19, 1990.

Decided: Dec. 28, 1990.

On Appeal from Superior Court. Conviction Affirmed. Remanded for Resentencing.

M. Jane Brady (argued), Deputy Atty. Gen., Dept. of Justice, Georgetown, and Timothy J. Donovan, Jr. and Thomas H. Ellis, Deputy Attys. Gen., Dept. of Justice, Wilmington, for appellee.

Theopalis K. Gregory (argued), Gregory and Gregory, and Selma Hayman, Berg, Bifferato, Tighe & Cottrell, P.A., and Patricia C. Hannigan, Cooperating Attys. for American Civil Liberties Union, Delaware Affiliate, Wilmington, amicus curiae, for appellant.

Before CHRISTIE, C.J., HORSEY, MOORE, WALSH and HOLLAND, JJ., constituting the Court en banc.

WALSH, Justice:

In this appeal, the Court confronts an important question of first impression: May a defendant who is found to be "guilty but mentally ill" under 11 Del.C. § 401(b) be sentenced to death? The appellant, Reginald N. Sanders ("Sanders"), was convicted of Murder in the First Degree, Robbery in the First Degree, and Possession of a Deadly Weapon During the Commission of a Felony. Because the jury found that Sanders suffered from a psychiatric disorder but was not insane at the time of the offenses, it rendered verdicts of "guilty but mentally ill" on all three charges. The same jury then recommended that Sanders be sentenced to death. On appeal, Sanders and the American Civil Liberties Union (the "ACLU"), which served as amicus curiae on his behalf, urge several grounds for the reversal of his conviction and his sentence. We find no merit in the challenges raised by Sanders to his conviction. We conclude, however, that, on the uncontroverted evidence in this case, the jury's verdict of "guilty but mentally ill" established a mitigating factor as a matter of law and the failure of the trial court to instruct the jury to that effect was plain error. Accordingly, we affirm Sanders' conviction but vacate his sentence, remanding the case for a new penalty hearing.

I

The circumstances underlying the murder and robbery were not seriously contested at trial. In the early morning hours of August 3, 1985, June Butler returned to her residence in Dover, Delaware after paying a visit to a relative. She found her husband, John Butler, lying on the living room floor. Thinking that Mr. Butler, who suffered from diabetes, was in a diabetic coma, Mrs. Butler called for an ambulance. When the ambulance attendants arrived, they discovered that Mr. Butler was dead, having been stabbed twice in the heart and struck several times on the head with a blunt instrument.

When the police arrived on the scene, they found that Mr. Butler's wallet was missing and that his car keys had been taken from his pocket and placed in the ignition of his car, which was still in the garage. A video cassette recorder had been removed from the den and was also found in the car. The automatic garage door had become jammed, apparently as the result of an attempt to open it manually, and a tag that had been attached to the garage door mechanism was missing. There was no sign of forced entry or struggle.

In response to police questioning, a neighbor reported that she had seen Sanders approaching the Butler residence late in the afternoon of August 2. She recognized Sanders, a young man of nineteen, because he did yard work for the Butlers and others in the neighborhood. Another neighbor reported that he had seen a man fitting Sanders' description in the driveway of the Butler house later in the evening. Most important, several clear fingerprints were found on the trunk of Mr. Butler's car, and the prints were later identified as belonging to Sanders.

Pursuant to a warrant, the police searched Sanders' residence on August 3; Sanders was not present at the time. They found a shirt with blood stains that were determined to be consistent with Mr. Butler's blood type and inconsistent with Sanders'. They also found Mr. Butler's wallet and the tag that had been removed from the garage door mechanism. When Sanders returned home, he was placed under arrest.

Sanders was indicted on charges of Robbery in the First Degree, Burglary in the First Degree, Possession of a Deadly Weapon during the Commission of a Felony, and three counts of Murder in the First Degree. One murder count alleged an intentional killing, one count a reckless killing during a robbery, and a third count a reckless killing during a burglary. Because Sanders had a history of mental instability, several mental health professionals At trial, Sanders sought to prove that he was "not guilty by reason of insanity," within the meaning of 11 Del.C. § 401(a). Thus, a considerable body of evidence concerning Sanders' mental condition was presented at trial. Sanders' mother described her son's childhood experiences and the changes that occurred in his personality in the years preceding Mr. Butler's murder. Although Sanders had some difficulty in learning, his development was relatively normal until 1983, his senior year in high school. At that time, he became increasingly rebellious and prone to temper tantrums. He failed several classes and did not graduate, although he obtained an equivalency certificate the following year. In the fall of 1984, he enrolled at Shaw University in North Carolina but left after a month. He then entered the Marine Corps but was discharged after nine days because of a marked failure to adapt to the requirements of military life. From the beginning of 1985 onward, he lived with his mother and worked at odd jobs in the Dover area. He became acquainted with the Butlers because he occasionally did yard work for them.

examined Sanders to determine his competency to stand trial. Dr. Irwin G. Weintraub, a clinical psychologist, concluded that Sanders suffered from schizophrenia of the paranoid variety, and that although Sanders had a general understanding of the charges against him, his ability to assist counsel would be handicapped by unpredictable thinking, feeling and behavior. Dr. Kutas T. Dogan, a psychiatrist at the Delaware State Hospital who examined Sanders at the State's request, found that although Sanders suffered from adolescent onset schizophrenia, the condition had been stabilized through medication. Dr. S.M. Iqbal, a clinical psychologist at the State Hospital, concurred in Dr. Dogan's findings. On August 14, 1986, the Superior Court ruled that Sanders was competent to stand trial.

Sanders' mother described numerous occasions when her son's behavior manifested his growing psychological difficulties. He became easily angered and would destroy his mother's property if he became upset. He began compulsively to take several showers during the course of a morning or afternoon, explaining to his mother that he felt dirty. On one occasion in early 1985, he began to spit on the kitchen floor and then earnestly denied that he had done so when questioned by his mother. On another occasion, he scooped dust balls and dirt off the floor and ate them.

On a third occasion, Sanders became convinced that his girlfriend had been unfaithful to him and he began shouting at his mother as if she were his girlfriend. Finally, in the spring of 1985, he battered down the door of his mother's bedroom with a five-pound dumbbell and held it menacingly before dropping the weight and silently leaving the room. At this point, Sander's mother called the police, and Sanders was eventually admitted to the Delaware State Hospital.

Although Sanders was initially diagnosed as suffering from a schizophreniform disorder, the diagnosis was changed to adjustment disorder, possibly aggravated by abuse of marijuana. ¹ The hospital prescribed a tranquilizer and allowed Sanders to go home. Upon returning from the hospital in late May, 1985, Sanders reported to his mother that "I don't hear voices anymore like I used to." However, he later told her that he was a king, that one of his friends was the devil, that a boy in the neighborhood was an eagle, and that the family dog could talk. In mid-July, when Sanders learned that his mother might need gall bladder surgery, he attempted to commit suicide by strangling himself with a garden hose.

Sanders did not testify at trial, but his understanding of the events of August 2 and 3 was revealed through the testimony As related to the examining experts, Sanders became obsessed with the belief that Mr. Butler's diabetic condition caused him a great deal of pain. In fact, Mr. Butler had had his leg amputated as the result of the disease. In Dr. Iqbal's evaluation of Sanders, Sanders spoke of Mr. Butler as "a very sick man [who] had to take a lot of pills" and who had a "twisted body." Sanders began to "hear voices" that commanded him to end Mr. Butler's perceived suffering by killing him. ³ Apparently, he resisted the "voices" for some time, because he genuinely liked Mr. Butler and felt that killing him would be wrong. Eventually, however, he surrendered to his compulsion. On the night of August 2, he went to the Butler house with a rubber mallet and knocked on the door. When Mr. Butler let Sanders in, Sanders began to beat him until he was unconscious. The "voices" then "ordered" Sanders to go to the kitchen, get a knife, and stab Mr. Butler. He argued with the "voices" for a time but eventually obeyed them. He took Mr. Butler's pulse to make sure that he was dead and then decided to take Mr. Butler's car and video cassette recorder, although he abandoned this plan when the garage door jammed. He took Mr. Butler's wallet instead, telling Dr. Iqbal that "I wanted to keep something to remember of him." He expressed shock and remorse in his discussion with Dr. Iqbal, stating "I didn't want to hurt that man and he was such a nice man I don't know why I did that to him."

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