State v. Daigle

• Decision Date: 11 April 1977
• Docket Number: No. 58814,58814
• Citation: 344 So.2d 1380
• Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. Percy DAIGLE.
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

Page 1380

344 So.2d 1380

STATE of Louisiana v. Percy DAIGLE.

No. 58814.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

April 11, 1977.

Preston N. Aucoin and Gilbert Wayne Aucoin, Ville Platte, for defendant-appellant.

William J. Custe, Jr., Atty. Gen., Barbara Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., J. William Pucheu, Dist. Atty., A. Bruce Rozas, First Asst. Dist. Atty., for plaintiff-appellee.

CALOGERO, Justice.

Defendant was indicted and tried for the murder of his wife, Nita Soileau Daigle, on November 17, 1972. Defendant pled not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity and a sanity commission was appointed. After a hearing, the judge found the defendant competent to proceed with trial. The defendant was tried by a jury of twelve which returned a verdict of guilty on October 23, 1975. He was thereupon sentenced to life imprisonment. On appeal defendant relies upon thirteen assignments of errof for reversal of his conviction.

Sometime prior to November 17, 1972, defendant and his wife (the murder victim) separated. On that date defendant allegedly met his estranged wife at an intersection in Ville Platte and she called him 'flat nose' and told him she had just been to see her 'boyfriend.' Shortly after this confrontation, defendant found his wife at her new residence, and in full view of her mother and two other witnesses, he shot his wife three times with a gun he had purchased several days before. He then put the gun in a paper bag which he placed in his car. He left his car door open and walked to a nearby service station where the police apprehended him.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 1.

Defense counsel questioned prospective juror Mrs. Rose Marte Johnson concerning the defense of insanity. She stated that she could apply the law to the effect that if the evidence showed defendant did not know right from wrong at the time of the murder, defendant would be excused from criminal responsibility. However, she then stated: 'I feel it would be a hard thing to prove, but if it can be proven I feel that I can go along with it.' After some further examination defendant requested that the prospective juror be excused for cause because she harbored a fixed opinion which would yield only after evidence was presented. The judge overruled the request and, since defendant had exhausted his peremptory challenges, he noted an assignment of error.

A reading of this prospective juror's voir dire in full reveals that she was an impartial witness; she was merely of the opinion that to show someone did not know right from wrong at a particular time would be difficult to prove (which it is). As the state points out, she was recognizing (without knowing it) the presumption that a person is sane and responsible for his acts. The juror stated that if competent evidence could convince her that defendant did not know right from wrong at the time of the murder then she would render a verdict accordingly and would not refuse to apply the applicable law. Furthermore, she stated that she believed someone could be legally insane at the time of the murder and then resume his sanity so as to be permitted to return to society.

The statement of the juror upon which defendant principally relies was that she couldn't imagine what would cause someone not to know right from wrong; she said she couldn't 'imagine what would cause this,' but she would be willing to listen. When she made this statement that judge explained that the jurors have to determine the facts, but that they must apply the law as given, and the law in this regard was that a man is not criminally responsible if medical evidence and other proof showed that some mental disease or defect prevented the defendant from distinguishing right from wrong. Asked if she could apply that law the juror replied in the affirmative. Finally the juror stated that she honestly believed that someone could kill another person without knowing right from wrong at that particular time and that if the evidence convinced her that this was the case, she would steadfastly vote that way in the jury room and not yield even if the vote was eleven to one.

We conclude that the juror was an impartial witness and would follow the law and apply it and would seriously consider the evidence on the sanity issue. The mere fact that a juror believes that insanity at the time of the crime would be difficult to prove is not grounds for excusal for cause.

The assignment of error lacks merit.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 2.

After defendant pled not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity, he requested that a sanity commission be appointed. The judge appointed a sanity commission to inquire into defendant's present capacity and the mental condition he allegedly had at the time of the commission of the murder. Defendant assigns as error the alleged refusal of the court to permit the members of the sanity commission to testify at the sanity hearing as to defendant's sanity at the time of the commission of the offense. As authority for his proposition defendant relies upon Article 650 of the Code of Criminal Procedure which provides in part that when a defendant makes the dual plea 'the court may appoint a sanity commission . . . to make an examination as to the defendant's mental condition at the time of the offense.' He argues on the authority of this article that when a judge has ordered the commission to inquire into defendant's sanity at the time of the murder, defendant is entitled at the sanity commission hearing to examine the commission members as to their findings in this regard.

There is no merit to defendant's assignment, for the record indicates that the judge did not refuse to permit the members of the sanity commission to testify at the sanity hearing relative to defendant's insanity at the time of the commission of the offense. In fact, the judge ruled that defense counsel could inquire into defendant's insanity at the time of the commission of the crime insofar as it was pertinent to the issue at the hearing, namely defendant's present capacity to stand trial. The record clearly indicates that counsel's objection was directed at the trial court's refusal to rule on defendant's insanity at time of commission of the offense.

The question of present capacity to stand trial is a question for the judge (C.Cr.P. art. 647) while the issue of defendant's insanity at the time of the commission of the offense is a fact question reserved for the jury. State v. Link, 301 So.2d 339 (La.1974). Thus defendant is not entitled to have the court rule on defendant's ability to distinguish between right and wrong at the time of the murder. State v. Basco, 216 La. 365, 43 So.2d 761 (1950); State v. Cook, 215 La. 163, 39 So.2d 898 (1949) Defendant was not barred from interrogating commission members as to their opinions with respect to sanity at the time of commission of the offense. The judge simply properly ruled that it was not his province to rule upon that issue.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 3.

In this assignment defendant contends that the trial judge erred in ruling the defendant had the capacity to proceed. He contends that he was suffering amnesia as to events occurring immediately before until after the shooting and that on this account he was incapable of assisting his counsel in his defense at trial. He relies upon Article 641 of the Code of Criminal Procedure which provides:

'Mental incapacity to proceed exists when, as a result of a mental disease or defect, a defendant presently lacks the capacity to understand the proceedings against him or to assist in his defense.'

Inasmuch as the medical experts differed as to whether in fact defendant actually suffered amnesia concerning the events surrounding the shooting, we need not consider whether amnesia alone requires a finding that defendant cannot assist his counsel. ¹.

The trial court's finding defendant able to assist counsel in his defense is supported by the record. Thus there is no merit to be assignment.

We find no error in the trial court's determination that defendant had the capacity to proceed.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 4.

The judge refused to give defendant's requested charges numbers one and two which were to the following effect:

'Article 656 (654) of the Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure, in pertinent part, provides that:

'When a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity is returned in a capital case, the court shall commit the defendant to a proper state mental institution for custody, care, and treatment.'

'Therefore, if you vote to acquit Percy Daigle by reason of insanity, this Court shall commit him to a proper state mental institution.

'The word 'shall' is mendatory and means the Court has to commit him to said institution. The Court has no choice but to commit him.'

'If you return a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity, the Court shall commit Percy Daigle to a proper state mental institution for custody, care and treatment.'

The judge correctly refused to give defendant's requested charges. Code of Criminal Procedure Article 807 ² provides that a requested special charge 'need not be given if it is included in the general charge.' The judge gave a very lengthy charge as to the legal effect of not guilty by reason of insanity in a capital case. The charge quoted verbatim the relevant articles in the Code of Criminal Procedure dealing with the mandatory commitment, the hearing to determine, after six months, whether the defendant may be released, the one year delay between successive applications to be released, the appointment of a commission to report whether defendant should be released and other related matters. In other words, the court charged the jury with the complete procedure, immediately after the verdict is rendered and subsequently. The general charge, therefore, conveyed defendant's requested charge number two and part of charge number one. The only dispute is apparently whether the judge should have given that part of the requested...