State v. Brewer, 42093.

Decision Date15 May 1934
Docket NumberNo. 42093.,42093.
Citation254 N.W. 834,218 Iowa 1287
PartiesSTATE v. BREWER.
CourtIowa Supreme Court

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

Appeal from District Court, Black Hawk County; A. B. Lovejoy, Judge.

Appellant was convicted of the crime of murder in the first degree. The facts are stated in the opinion.

Affirmed.

John L. McCartney and Herbert A. Greenhouse, both of Waterloo, and James W. Fay, of Emmetsburg, for appellant.

Edward L. O'Connor, Atty. Gen., Walter F. Maley, Asst. Atty. Gen., and John W. Gwynne, Co. Atty., and Burr Towne, Asst. Co. Atty., both of Waterloo, for the State.

CLAUSSEN, Chief Justice.

On the afternoon of December 16, 1932, appellant, Elmer Brewer, and Pat Griffin were in a small house in the outskirts of Waterloo, Black Hawk county, Iowa. For some reason or other the sheriff of the county desired to apprehend Brewer. H. M. Mitchell and William E. Dilworth, deputy sheriffs, went to the house in search of Brewer. The house was a small one consisting of two rooms. At the time the officers approached the house, Brewer was asleep on a cot or small bed in the living room. Griffin was also in the living room. When the approach of the officers was observed, Griffin awakened Brewer, and he and Brewer went into the other room. Brewer had covered himself while asleep in the living room with his overcoat. He had a pistol in his overcoat pocket. When he arose from the bed, his pistol fell from the overcoat pocket. He picket it up and put it back in the overcoat pocket. He took the overcoat with him into the side room. The opening between the living room and the side room was closed by a piece of wallboard rather than by a door. The officers entered the living room and inquired whether Brewer was there. The lady of the house denied that Brewer was in the house, whereupon the officers asked permission to search the adjoining room. Thereupon the wallboard closing the door was jerked aside and Griffin and Brewer leaped into the living room commanding the officers to put up their hands and immediately opening fire upon them. Both of the officers were wounded. Mitchell recovered from his injuries, but Dilworth died. Dilworth was shot through the head, and died as a result of such would. A county attorney's true information was filed charging Brewer and Griffin with the crime of murder in the first degree. Brewer asked and was granted a separate trial. On the 27th day of December, 1932, the trial of the charge against Brewer was commenced. The jury found the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree and directed that he be punished by death. Judgment was pronounced accordingly. From such judgment this appeal is prosecuted.

In the beginning the defendant entered a plea of not guilty. During the progress of the trial the defendant asked, and was granted leave, to introduce the defense that he was insane at the time the act was committed. To sustain such special defense the defendant testified that some years ago he suffered from a very severe sunstroke; that the attack was of such severity that he was taken in custody and detained over night on account of being out of his head. He testified that when he became heated he could not think or remember things as he could before; that when he is in a hot room it seems to smother him and frequently produces headaches; that he had been out of his head subsequent to the heat attack; and that the trouble came on him often and more severely when he was worried. His former wifes testified to his condition at the time of the sunstroke. She stated that her husband was brought home about 2 o'clock in the afternoon and was put to bed, where he remained until about 4 o'clock, when he got out of bed, evidently violently disturbed, and ran away. She had the officers locate him, and states that the officers kept him in custody for two days. She testified that subsequent to the sunstroke, her husband, on occasion, would threaten to take his own life and the life of his children. From her version of the condition of the defendant and the testimony of former neighbors of the defendant it is conclusively established that when the defendant was under such seizures he was very violent in temper and in action. Both the defendant and his former wife associated the seizures with the defendant working in the hot sun or being in a very warm and poorly ventilated room, although, as has been noted, the defendant testified, as did the wife, that worry had some connection with the difficulty.

In addition to the foregoing facts, the record discloses that at about 4 o'clock in the morning of December 16, the date of the crime, the defendant came to the home of his former wife, for the purpose, so she testified, of procuring his overcoat and saying good-bye to his children. Testifying concerning his actions and appearance at that time, the former wife said: “From my knowledge and acquaintanceship with Mr. Brewer, the way he acted was not natural. Everything wasn't just right and it seems to me as though he was worried about something by the way he acted.”

Brewer's codefendant, Griffin, testified upon the trial. Griffin testified that Brewer had been absent-minded, or rather forgetful, for some time; that the night before the crime was committed Brewer acted and looked differently than he normally did; that on the night when Brewer left he was not supposed to return; but that he did return “and wanted to know what we was going to do, and what was the matter and a bunch of foolish questions like that.” Griffin testified that, when he and Brewer left the house, in which they had just wounded one man and killed another, Brewer did not appear as he would naturally. It is in evidence that there were two stoves in the room; that Brewer carried in some wood from outdoors and put some of it in one of the stoves; that Brewer had been sleeping on a cot of some kind near this stove; and that he was covered with his overcoat while he slept. The crime was committed in the middle of December, but the record does not disclose whether the day was cold. Neither does it disclose the character of the construction of the house for warmth, nor that the room was actually warm. There is nothing to suggest that a degree of heat was present in the room which would produce a seizure in Brewer.

Other than the testimony of Griffin concerning the action and appearance of the defendant the night before the crime, and the testimony of the former wife in relation to his appearance at 4 o'clock in the morning of the day of the crime, there is nothing to suggest that at the time the crime was committed the defendant was not mentally himself. The fact that Brewer did not look normal as he fled from the house in which the crime had just been committed would scarcely possess much probative value.

Brewer's seizures were violent. He was violent and destructive when under their influence. Neither the defendant nor any of his associates testified to any act done by Brewer during the day of the crime that would indicate that Brewer was under the influence of a mental disturbance of any kind. Prior to the moment when the crime was committed, he seems to have been quite composed; he had been sleeping on the bed in the room for an hour or more. The defendant did not claim that he was at all perturbed. His evidence in relation to the matter is as follows: “It was getting late and we wanted to get through so I got going too fast and got overhet, and that evening after I got home from work, why, I lost my head, or something and I don't know whether it was the Missus called the law or not, but they called the law and they came out and picked me up. They didn't pick me up because of any crime, but on account of being out of my head. They brought me back home some time the next day, I think, Dr. Zinn, of Fort Dodge, took care of me. I wasn't as bad after that as I was that night, but every time I would get hot, it seemed like I couldn't remember or couldn't think like I could before. This must have been about '23, I guess, or '24, eight or nine years ago. I have noticed the effect upon my health. When I am in a heated room, it seems to kind of smother me, and I get a headache quite often unless I get lots of fresh air. I have been out of my head after that time. This trouble comes on often, when I am worried, or something like that, it will press on me worse than if I wasn't worried. During the afternoon of Friday, the 16th, I was sleeping in this room where the heater was, I had just put some wood in this heater, and the edge of the bed was about three feet from the heater, or something like that. I don't know how long I was laying there-it must have been close to an hour, or something like that. When I got up, I didn't realize what was going on; I jumped right up, I wasn't hardly fully awake when the shooting occurred. I didn't intend to pull that trigger, and I didn't aim the gun intentionally to shoot nobody.''

The above testimony is from the direct examination of the defendant. He testified further on direct examination as follows: “I pulled this overcoat up over me and I went to sleep. I don't know what time I woke up. Pat (Griffin) woke me, he said ‘Get up.’ I asked him what for, I said ‘Let me alone’ I wanted to sleep; I was tired, and he said ‘Get up, there's a car coming.’ So I got up and we went in the back room.”

The defendant testified further on direct examination as follows: “On Friday the 16th when Pat Griffin awakened me, this gun was in the pocket of the overcoat laying over me. When I got up, it fell out of my pocket and I shoved it back in the pocket of my overcoat. I took the overcoat into the other room with me, and to my knowledge throwed it down across a bed. I heard the officers come in and I heard them talking. They asked something about Frank Graves and then they asked for me, Brewer, and that is about all I heard them say. At the time I went into the room I did not have any intention of resisting a peace officer, nor had my partner...

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5 cases
  • State v. Thomas
    • United States
    • Iowa Supreme Court
    • May 22, 1974
    ...208 Iowa 127, 224 N.W. 537 (evidence raised fact question on insanity); State v. Buck, 205 Iowa 1028, 219 N.W. 17, with State v. Brewer, 218 Iowa 1287, 254 N.W. 834 (evidence did not raise fact question); State v. Thomas, 172 Iowa 485, 154 N.W. We thus overturn our standing rule on this sub......
  • State v. Hodge
    • United States
    • Iowa Supreme Court
    • October 18, 1960
    ...need not be submitted to the jury, when there is no substantial evidence to overcome the presumption of sanity. State v. Brewer, 218 Iowa 1287, 1295, 254 N.W. 834, 838. We there said: 'It is not claimed that the defendant's mental seizures were either progressive or continuous. The record i......
  • State v. Booth
    • United States
    • Iowa Supreme Court
    • July 24, 1969
    ...question of fact and should not be submitted unless the evidence would sustain an affirmative finding on that issue. State v. Brewer, 218 Iowa 1287, 1293, 254 N.W. 834, 837; State v. Hodge, 252 Iowa 449, 465, 105 N.W.2d 613, For present purposes we review the evidence in the light most favo......
  • State v. Berry
    • United States
    • Iowa Supreme Court
    • January 10, 1950
    ...of opinion. The question of mental competency is of course for the jury if there is a material conflict in the testimony. State v. Brewer, 218 Iowa 1287, 254 N.W. 834;State v. Wegener, 180 Iowa 102, 162 N.W. 1040;State v. Geier, 111 Iowa 706, 83 N.W. 718. We do not try the issue anew on app......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

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