Smith v. State

• Decision Date: 14 December 1979
• Docket Number: No. 477S256,477S256
• Parties: Robert Dennis SMITH, Appellant (Defendant Below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff Below).
• Court: Indiana Supreme Court

Page 959

397 N.E.2d 959

272 Ind. 328

Robert Dennis SMITH, Appellant (Defendant Below), v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee (Plaintiff Below).

No. 477S256.

Supreme Court of Indiana.

Dec. 14, 1979.

John F. Hoehner, Valparaiso, for appellant.

Theodore L. Sendak, Atty. Gen., Alembert W. Brayton, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellee.

PRENTICE, Justice.

Defendant (Appellant) was convicted in a trial by jury of first degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. On appeal, he raises the following issues:

(1) Whether the trial court erred in refusing to instruct the jury regarding the law of irresistible impulse.

(2) Whether sufficient foundation was established for the admission of two videotaped recordings of defendant's confession.

(3) Whether the trial court erred in admitting Defendant's oral confession.

(4) Whether there was sufficient evidence that Defendant was competent to stand trial.

(5) Whether the test for insanity should be modified by deletion of the "caveat paragraph".

On November 29, 1975, the body of Mrs. Ellen Johnson was discovered, in her Porter County residence, lying on the kitchen floor in a large pool of blood, her clothing in disarray. A small paring-knife was found on the victim's chest. The autopsy revealed that the elderly and nearly blind woman had died as a result of a massive skull fracture and from the acute loss of blood caused by numerous knife wounds. The defendant confessed to two Indiana State Police officers that he had killed Mrs. Johnson.

ISSUE I

Defendant interposed an insanity defense. One of the court-appointed psychiatrists, Dr. Birkson, testified that, in his opinion, the defendant could not conform his conduct to the requirements of law and, at one point, he acknowledged that the defendant's conduct was, in a sense, based upon "impulse". The trial court refused the defendant's tendered instruction on impulse, but gave Instruction No. 19. The rejected tendered instruction and Instruction No. 19, the one given, were as follows:

DEFENDANT'S TENDERED INSTRUCTION (REJECTED)

"You are instructed that under the law of this State a person may have sufficient mental capacity to know right from wrong and to be able (sic) to comprehend the nature and consequences of the act, and yet not be criminally responsible for his action; for an irresistible impulse of a person accused is a lawful excuse for the commission of an act, otherwise a crime, where the person committing it, though

he is capable of knowing right from wrong, lacks in consequence of a diseased mind, the will power to resist an impulse to commit crime."

TRIAL COURT'S FINAL INSTRUCTION NO. 19

"Under the Defendant's plea of not guilty there is an issue as to his sanity at the time of the alleged offense. The law does not hold a person criminally accountable for his conduct while insane, since an insane person is not capable of forming the intent essestial (sic) to the commission of a crime. The sanity of the Defendant at the time of the commission of the alleged offense is an element of the crime charged and must be established by the State beyond reasonable doubt, just as it must establish every other element of the offense charged. A Defendant is insane within the meaning of these instructions if, at the time of the alleged criminal conduct, as a result of mental disease or defect he lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law."

Defendant contends that this instruction did not include "irresistible impulse" as among the conduct for which one could not be held criminally responsible and cites Fuller v. State, (1973) 261 Ind. 376, 304 N.E.2d 305, as requiring that, upon request, an instruction be given on the irresistible impulse test. We do not agree that Fuller so holds.

In the Fuller case the appellant assigned error in the giving of an insanity instruction which did not adequately state the "irresistible impulse" concept, and this Court rejected the claim of error because the concept was adequately explained in another instruction, which instruction was quoted in full and included a specific reference to "irresistible impulse." We did not, however, say that such a specific inclusion was required.

In Hill v. State, (1969) 252 Ind. 601, 251 N.E.2d 429, we embraced a modified version of the American Law Institute's (ALI) definition of insanity, which was sufficiently incorporated into Instruction No. 19. In so doing we observed that our rule theretofore, which was the McNaghten rule in part but modified to include the irresistible impulse test, was too restrictive because the term implied that the impulse must be sudden and overwhelming and did not include cases involving reflection or brooding. The definition from Hill, however, while accommodating circumstances not contemplated by the irresistible impulse test, did not eliminate it. Rather, the definition was simply expanded so as to include both the irresistible impulse manifestations and those that were the result of other overpowering of the mind. The lack of substantial capacity to conform one's conduct to the requirements of law is equally as definitive of an "irresistible impulse" as it is of any other inability to conform one's conduct. There was, therefore, no need for the refused instruction, the substance thereof having been included in Instruction No. 19.

ISSUE II

State's Exhibits 14 and 15 are videotaped recordings of Defendant's confession. At trial, defense counsel objected to their admission on the basis that the contents of the recordings are "not essentially discernible," citing Lamar v. State, (1972) 258 Ind. 504, 282 N.E.2d 795, in which this Court held that admission of a sound recording should be preceded by a foundation disclosing, among other things, that the recording "is of such clarity as to be intelligible and enlightening to the jury." Id. at 513, 282 N.E.2d at 800. The test of the admissibility of a sound recording stated in Lamar applies with equal logic to the admissibility of a videotape.

We adopted the Lamar test in order to eliminate the introduction of recordings that are of such a poor quality that they might lead to jury speculation as to their contents. We do not, however, require uniform perfection throughout a recording; rather, the focus is upon whether the recording taken as a whole, or a crucial segment We have viewed both tapes and we find no error in their admission into evidence. The beginning of the first tape depicts the defendant being informed of his constitutional rights and his subsequent waiver thereof. The video quality is very good, at first. The audio is poor due to a constant "buzz"; however, the defendant's statements and confession are readily discernible. Following the defendant's waiver of his constitutional rights, the picture gradually fades away, though the audio remains discernible. One can clearly comprehend the defendant's admission that he killed Mrs. Johnson, and that he had planned the killing the night before. The defendant is also heard to say that the killing was, in his words, "premeditated", and that he described the victim as being old, blind, and afraid. At several points, it is difficult to discern the questions being asked by one police officer in particular, perhaps because the officer was too far away from the microphone; and, occasionally the defendant's responses become muffled or obscured by various background noises, such as a ringing telephone. The police department should have taken greater precaution to prevent such deficiencies; however, it is apparent from the tape's contents, immediately preceding and following the garbled statements, that such statements dealt with minor details, e. g., the location of the defendant several hours after the murder, etc. Regarding the second tape which is a continuation of the first, the picture problem of the first tape was cleared up and the audio quality remained the same. Under these circumstances, there was no error in admitting these tapes into evidence.

thereof, is of such poor quality that it is likely to lead to jury speculation as to its contents. Pettit v. State, (1979) Ind., 396 N.E.2d 126.

ISSUE III

Defendant next contends that the trial court erred in admitting into evidence his oral confession and testimony concerning that confession. This specification of error is predicated upon three separate grounds.

First, he contends that the confession was the product of an illegal, warrantless arrest in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. However, this ground for objection was not raised at trial; rather, it first appears in Defendant's motion to correct errors. It is well-settled that the grounds for objection to the admission of evidence asserted on appeal may not differ from those raised at trial. Clark v. State, (1978) Ind., 380 N.E.2d 550; Jones v. State, (1973) 260 Ind. 463, 296 N.E.2d 407. In any event, the record reflects that the officers went to the defendant's residence to discuss the murder of Mrs. Johnson and that the officers informed him of his rights. Defendant refused to sign a rights waiver form, but stated that he would talk with the officers and answer their questions. During the course of the ensuing discussion, Defendant confessed to having killed Mrs. Johnson. In Indiana, a police officer may arrest an individual without a warrant when the officer has reasonable and probable cause to believe that the person has committed a felony. Works v. State, (1977) 266 Ind. 250, 362 N.E.2d 144. The question of whether or not there is probable cause is determined by the facts and circumstances within the knowledge of the officer at the time of the arrest. Sanchez v. State, (1971) 256 Ind. 140, 142, 267 N.E.2d 374. Upon the facts of this case, the officers had probable cause to believe that Defendant had committed the felony of murder; thus, they were justified in making...