State v. Doyon

• Citation: 416 A.2d 130
• Decision Date: 26 June 1980
• Docket Number: No. 78-385-C,78-385-C
• Parties: STATE v. Leo F. DOYON. A.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Rhode Island

Page 130

416 A.2d 130

STATE v. Leo F. DOYON.

No. 78-385-C.A.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

June 26, 1980.

Dennis J. Roberts, II, Atty. Gen., Alfred French Goldstein, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., for plaintiff.

Janice M. Weisfeld, Asst. Public Defender, John A. MacFadyen, III, Chief App. Atty., for defendant.

OPINION

KELLEHER, Justice.

The defendant, Leo F. Doyon (Doyon), was tried before a Superior Court jury on a two-count indictment charging him with arson, a violation of G.L.1956 (1969 Reenactment) § 11-4-1 (1979 Supp.), and murder while in perpetration of arson, a violation of G.L.1956 (1969 Reenactment) § 11-23-1 (1979 Supp.). A Superior Court jury, in its March 6, 1978 verdict, found Doyon guilty of arson and of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to mandatory life imprisonment for murder and to a concurrent twenty-five-year sentence for arson.

Shortly after 2 a. m. on March 26, 1977, the fire engines from the LaSalle Square station roared up Broadway toward the brilliantly red portion of the Providence skyline. Their destination was a blazing apartment building at 715 Westminster Street. At the scene, one of the tenants had attempted to arouse the others by yelling, "Fire$" In response, another tenant, Debra Caplette (Debra), after calling the fire department, climbed out of the window of an apartment she shared with the caretaker of the building, Raymond Mulholland (Ray). She ascended the fire escape to the fourth floor and banged on apartment windows in an effort to alert the tenants. As the building filled with smoke, some of the tenants scrambled onto the fire escapes and descended to the safety of the street; others were assisted or carried by firemen responding to the alarm. One tenant, Robert Souza (Souza), was not so fortunate.

Testimony by Dr. William Q. Sturner, Chief Medical Examiner for the State of Rhode Island, attributed the primary cause of Souza's death to "asphyxia due to smoke inhalation" although laboratory tests also revealed 0.46 gram of ethyl alcohol in Souza's blood. Doctor Sturner concluded that 0.46 gram in and of itself was a potentially lethal alcohol level but found that although the alcohol contributed to Souza's death, it was not the primary cause.

An investigation by the Providence Police Department disclosed that the fire was of incendiary rather than accidental origin. The fire originated at the rear of the Westminster Street building where a flammable liquid had been spread at the second-floor roof level.

Additional testimony by a Providence policeman on desk duty at the central station during the early morning hours of March 26, 1977, showed that Doyon had come to the station twice the first time to complain that he had been locked out of the apartment where he had been staying and the second time to report that he had set fire to a building at 715 Westminster Street. According to this witness, both times that Doyon visited the police station, he was walking steadily and speaking clearly.

An off-duty Providence policeman also testified that he had seen an agitated Doyon make several phone calls from a gas station located near police headquarters. A few minutes after completing his calls, Doyon left the station carrying a white plastic container filled with gasoline.

On the day preceding the blaze, Doyon worked for an employment agency specializing in part-time help until 4:30 p. m. After receiving a cash advance of $11 for his work, Doyon returned to his temporary residence at 715 Westminster Street. He attempted unsuccessfully to enter Debra and Ray's apartment where he had for the preceding month been allowed to sleep on the living-room couch.

Failing to gain entrance to the apartment, Doyon met another occupant of the building. They then proceeded to visit several bars within walking distance of the Westminster Street building. Doyon's drinking companion testified that they consumed quantities of beer during their spree but did not eat anything and that by the end of the evening Doyon "was staggering * * * (and) was talking in circles." Doyon and his companion parted company just before midnight. At that time Doyon telephoned the apartment where he had been staying. Ray buzzed the front door and allowed Doyon to enter. After a brief argument, a scuffle ensued and Doyon ran from the building shouting, "You watch your * * * house." Within a few minutes of his departure, Doyon made three threatening phone calls to the apartment. Shortly thereafter the premises at 715 Westminster Street were engulfed in flames.

Extensive trial testimony further revealed the tragic details of Doyon's life his borderline retardation, the death of his mother when he was about nine years old, and his subsequent placement into the custody of Child Welfare Services by his father. After his placement, Doyon had virtually no contact with either his father or his siblings. His sad journey included stops at a Woonsocket orphanage, the Children's Center, a foster home, Community Workshops, and Talbot House, a facility for the treatment of alcoholics. During a five-month period beginning in April 1976, he was admitted to the Institute for Mental Health five times. Testimony by personnel from these community facilities all attested to Doyon's overwhelming desire to return to the security of a structured family situation.

At trial, Doyon's defense relied heavily upon the facts we have recounted in order to show that he lacked the mental capacity to form the "specific mental states that are essential to the crime of arson." On appeal, Doyon pursues this same argument and asks that, since the Legislature has established a lesser-included offense to the crime charged, the "defense of diminished capacity should be available to mitigate arson to the crime of statutory burning." ¹

If we adopt Doyon's view, his conviction for first-degree murder cannot stand. At the time of the fire, the unlawful killing of a human being in the perpetration of statutory burning was not specifically enumerated under G.L.1956 (1969 Reenactment) § 11-23-1 as giving rise to murder in the first degree. Section 11-23-1 has been subsequently amended by P.L.1979, ch. 178, § 1, and now provides that a murder committed in violation of § 11-4-2 will be considered first-degree murder.

In addition, Doyon contends that because he was convicted of first-degree murder solely on a felony-murder theory, he was impermissibly convicted and punished twice for the underlying felony. Accordingly, Doyon argues that his constitutional right to be free from double jeopardy as guaranteed by U.S.Const. Amend. V and R.I.Const. art. I, sec. 8, has been violated.

The state, in responding to these contentions, claims that the weight of authority clearly establishes arson as a "general intent crime" to which the defense of diminished capacity is inapplicable and refutes Doyon's double-jeopardy argument by invoking the "concurrent sentence" doctrine. We shall consider the double-jeopardy issue first and then proceed to reflect on the diminished-capacity defense. Relying upon our decision of In re Leon, R.I., 410 A.2d 121 (1980), the state contends that we are not compelled to disturb Doyon's arson conviction because "concurrent sentences have been imposed on multiple counts and when a conviction on one count is valid, appellate review of convictions on other counts is unnecessary." Id., 410 A.2d at 126-27.

The state's reliance on In re Leon is misplaced. In that decision, although we recognized the existence of the Hirabayashi doctrine, ² we declined to invoke it "because of possible, though not evident, collateral effects" and therefore "considered the points of appeal relating to second degree murder on their merits." Id., 410 A.2d at 127. In the present case, permitting Doyon's arson conviction to stand without addressing the merits of his double-jeopardy argument would ignore completely the potentially adverse collateral consequences of this conviction. A brief quote from Benton v. Maryland, 395 U.S. 784, 791, 89 S.Ct. 2056, 2060, 23 L.Ed.2d 707, 714 (1969), should set the issue to rest. The Supreme Court in Benton acknowledged the existence of the Hirabayashi doctrine but declined to follow it.

"The concurrent sentence rule may have some continuing validity as a rule of judicial convenience. * * * It is sufficient for present purposes to hold that there is no jurisdictional bar to consideration of challenges to multiple convictions, even though concurrent sentences were imposed.

" * * *

"Because of the special circumstances in this case, * * * even if the concurrent sentence doctrine survives as a rule of judicial convenience, we find good reason not to apply it here." Id. at 791-92, 89 S.Ct. at 2061, 23 L.Ed.2d at 714.

Applying the Benton rationale to the present circumstances, we cannot say unequivocally that "the possibility of collateral consequences is so remote in this case that any double jeopardy violation should be treated as a species of 'harmless error.' " Id. at 791, 89 S.Ct. at 2061, 23 L.Ed.2d at 714. We can easily envision circumstances in which Doyon's arson conviction could return to haunt him either to prevent his release on parole or to impeach his veracity.

Accordingly, we now address Doyon's argument that his conviction for first-degree murder based upon felony-murder together with his conviction for the underlying felony, arson, violated the constitutional ban against double jeopardy. With this aspect of Doyon's reasoning we agree.

We recently explained our rule in State v. Innis, R.I., 391 A.2d 1158, 1167 (1978) rev'd on other grounds, --- U.S. ---, 100 S.Ct. 1682, 64 L.Ed.2d 297 (1980), consistent with principles enunciated in Harris v. Oklahoma, 433 U.S. 682, 97 S.Ct. 2912, 53 L.Ed.2d 1054 (1977), and Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299, 304, 52 S.Ct. 180, 182, 76 L.Ed.2d 306, 309 (1932). Our earlier decisions have also consistently followed the Blockburger rationale. State v. Davis, R.I., ...