Smith v. State, 771S207
Citation | 259 Ind. 187,285 N.E.2d 275 |
Decision Date | 31 July 1972 |
Docket Number | No. 771S207,771S207 |
Parties | , 55 A.L.R.3d 546 Billy Barnes SMITH, Appellant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee. |
Court | Supreme Court of Indiana |
Robert S. McCain and Harold W. Myers, Fort Wayne, for appellant.
Theodore L. Sendak, Atty. Gen., Stephen D. Clase, Deputy Atty. Gen., for appellee.
This is an appeal by Billy Barnes Smith, appellant (defendant below), from a conviction for First Degree Murder. * Appellant was initially indicted on November 12, 1967, and after a period of time in which he was deemed incompetent to stand trial, he entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. Appellant waived his right to a jury trial and in a trial to the court was found guilty on February 17, 1971. He received a sentence of life imprisonment. Appellant's Motion to Correct Errors was overruled and this appeal followed.
There is but one issue raised in this appeal--whether the testimony of two court appointed expert witnesses should have been excluded because it was based in part on information gained from hospital reports, the writers of which were not present in court to be cross-examined. Appellant claims the reports are hearsay which thus taints the expert opinions to such a degree as to make the opinions inadmissible.
The reports referred to were two reports made by staff members of the Richmond State Hospital. The two court appointed psychiatrists admitted that they relied in part on these reports. Each had personally examined appellant on two previous occasions.
Although medical reports containing observations and expert opinions relating to a defendant's sanity or insanity should not be admitted directly into evidence, they may be used to aid another expert in formulating his opinion as to the defendant's sanity. The function of an expert witness in a case concerning sanity or insanity is advisory in nature. He does not state a fact bur gives an opinion in order to aid the jury or trier of fact. The trier of fact must make the ultimate decision on this issue. See Hill v. State (1969), 252 Ind. 601, 251 N.E.2d 429. The reports are not accepted by the expert testifying as true facts but are examined by him to provide an aid in diagnosis.
United States v. Harper (5th Cir. 1971), 450 F.2d 1032, 1037.
See also United States v. Williams (5th Cir. 1971), 447 F.2d 1285.
We agree with the statement made by the Fifth Circuit in Birdsell v. United States (5th Cir. 1966), 346 F.2d 775, 779--780:
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