State v. Fekete
| Decision Date | 17 July 1995 |
| Docket Number | No. 21973,21973 |
| Citation | 1995 NMSC 49,901 P.2d 708,120 N.M. 290 |
| Parties | STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. John J. FEKETE, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | New Mexico Supreme Court |
This is a first degree murder case in which Defendant John J. Fekete appeals the judgment and life sentence the district court entered after the jury reached a verdict of guilty but mentally ill. Fekete raises the following issues on appeal: (1) whether substantial evidence supports the element of deliberate intent for first degree murder; (2) whether the trial court erred in refusing to give his tendered jury instruction on diminished capacity; (3) whether the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress various statements made to police officers; and (4) whether the verdict of guilty but mentally ill deprived him of his rights to due process and a fair trial. Each of the issues raised on appeal requires a review of traditional principles in light of a special factor: Fekete's undisputed, longstanding mental illness. We affirm.
Fekete has a twenty-year history of paranoid schizophrenia; he has been in and out of psychiatric facilities for most of his adult life. Expert testimony at trial established that his psychotic symptoms are controlled by Haldol, a psychotropic medication. The Haldol injections control his psychotic symptoms for several weeks.
On February 5, 1992, Fekete was removed from a Silver City transitional living center by the police. He had been at the center for several weeks since his release from a mental health facility where he had last received his antipsychotic medication. The center contacted the police because he had begun to exhibit acute psychotic symptoms that the center was not equipped to control.
The shooting occurred February 6. The following description of the shooting and prior events are derived from the evidence presented at trial, which included a tape-recorded statement Fekete gave to the police after the shooting, as well as testimony by the State's psychological expert, to whom Fekete gave a similar description of the shooting and prior events.
Fekete remained in Silver City after he was removed from the transitional living center. He rented a motel room on February 6, 1992. That same day, he went to a local pawn shop to inquire about purchasing a gun. He did not purchase a weapon at that time because he did not have enough money. Later that day, after cashing a disability check, he returned to the pawn shop and bought the gun. He next went to K-Mart to purchase ammunition and, because he thought the price at K-Mart was too high, he then went to Wal-Mart. After he purchased ammunition at Wal-Mart, he went to an area he described as "the woods" and loaded the gun. He put the gun in his belt and walked back to his motel room.
That evening Fekete visited the home of a married friend from whom he thought he could obtain marijuana. The friend did not have any marijuana and told Fekete to come back the next day. In an interview with the State's psychological expert, Fekete stated that he was angry and frustrated after visiting his friend because his friend had a happy family life and he did not.
After leaving his friend's house, Fekete went to a convenience store where he purchased candy. He then walked through the downtown streets "searching for someone to shoot." In his statement to the police, he said that it did not matter who he shot, but that he preferred to shoot a man because of the way he had been "treated and blasphemed." He wandered by a ballet studio where he saw women through a window and thought about shooting one of them, but rejected the thought.
Fekete continued down the street and saw a couple walking together. Although the couple was in fact middle-aged, he mistakenly saw the couple as "an old man and a very young girl." He thought the man was "probably having intercourse with that girl." Fekete reported that as the couple walked toward him, he thought "do it now." According to his statement to the police, he took off the gun's safety catch while the gun was still in his pocket, pulled out the gun, and shot the victim twice very quickly. He stated that the gun would not fire the second time, so he ejected the shell and put in another one. He also stated that he thought about shooting the woman who was with the victim, but decided against it.
After the victim collapsed from the shooting, Fekete quickly walked away in order not to be seen and eventually ended up back at his motel room. There he reloaded his gun because he "had plans." He thought about killing more people, but decided against it. He remained in his motel room until the next day.
In response to police questioning about his deliberation, Fekete responded that he did not think about killing the victim in advance. Rather, he saw the couple and thought "do it." He stated that he had no forethought; he just reacted. He was acquainted with the victim, Greg Jaurequi, but did not recognize Jaurequi as the man he shot. When the police informed Fekete of the victim's identity, he was surprised.
Based on information obtained from the pawn shop where Fekete purchased the gun, the police went to his motel the day after the shooting. When the police approached him, they asked him to accompany them to the station for questioning, and he stated to them that he "shot that old man downtown last night." He asked the officers if they wanted the gun, gesturing to his coat. One officer took the gun and asked where he got it. Fekete's answer was non-responsive. He handed the officers extra ammunition he was carrying and other personal items and entered the police van. One of the officers, Sergeant Ruiz, had his tape recorder running most of the short journey to the police station. During that journey Fekete repeated twice that he had shot the "guy" downtown the prior night. After a period of silence, interrupted by police radio broadcasts, he asked a question: Sergeant Ruiz responded to the question by asking "which one?" Fekete began to make other incriminating statements; he reported he had shot "the old man ... point blank." Sergeant Ruiz was silent, but another officer noted the presence of the tape recorder. Fekete then said, "Don't record ... enough of that." At the police station he signed a written waiver of his Miranda rights and made a detailed statement that described his activities and the shootings.
The district court initially found Fekete incompetent to stand trial. He was admitted to the Las Vegas State Hospital and treated with medication for almost a year. Subsequently the district court found him competent to stand trial, and he entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. At trial, experts for both the State and the defense testified regarding Fekete's sanity. Dr. Natalicio, the defense expert, testified that Fekete was insane at the time of the shooting and was incapable of forming the deliberate intent to kill. The State's expert, Dr. Foote, testified that Fekete was not insane at the time of the shooting. Although unwilling to give a formal opinion on the issue of whether Fekete had the ability to form the requisite intent to kill, Dr. Foote did testify that he thought Fekete was not actively psychotic at the time of the shooting. Dr. Foote based this assessment on Fekete's ability to purchase the gun and ammunition, to avoid detection after the shooting, and to describe his acts the next day to the police. He also said that in his opinion, Fekete could have controlled or restrained himself from the act of killing. He testified that the offense "came out of a rational place" in Fekete; Dr. Foote testified that it occurred during a "period of rational thinking." He outlined the evidence that in his judgment would support a finding of deliberate intent and indicated that the evidence pointing the other way was Fekete's anger. "[B]eing very angry can sometimes interfere with a person's capacity to form intent."
Among other instructions, the jury was instructed on both premeditated, deliberate first degree murder and second degree murder. The jury was given both the verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity and the verdict of guilty but mentally ill. The jury found Fekete guilty but mentally ill. As required by NMSA 1978, Section 31-18-14(A) (Repl.Pamp.1994), he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Fekete's argument on this issue is two-fold. First, he argues that the State failed to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that he had the deliberate intent to kill the victim. See NMSA 1978, § 30-2-1(A)(1) (Repl.Pamp.1994) (). Second, he argues that it was error for the trial court to include the phrase "or any other human being" in the first degree murder jury instruction because the facts do not support a finding of transferred intent killing.
To support his claim that the State failed to establish the element of deliberate intent beyond a reasonable doubt, Fekete relies primarily on State v. Garcia, 114 N.M. 269, 837 P.2d 862 (1992). In Garcia, this Court reversed a first degree murder conviction because there was insufficient evidence to support a finding of "deliberate intent," a requisite element under New Mexico's first degree murder statute. Id. at 274-75, 837 P.2d at 867-68. As we stated in Garcia, a deliberate killing is one in which the slayer weighs and considers "the question of killing and his reasons for and against such a choice." Id. at 271, 837 P.2d at 864 (quoting SCRA 1986, 14-201). We determined that...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State v. Coffin
...beneficial to the State, and the trial court's refusal to give the instruction could not have harmed Coffin. See State v. Fekete, 120 N.M. 290, 296, 901 P.2d 708, 714 (1995) ("The doctrine of transferred intent is a legal fiction that is used to hold a defendant criminally liable to the ful......
-
State v. Gutierrez
...a separate analysis from Child's claim that he did not voluntarily waive his Fifth Amendment rights under Miranda. State v. Fekete, 120 N.M. 290, 298, 901 P.2d 708, 716 (1995). The ultimate test remains that which has been the only clearly established test in Anglo–American courts for two h......
-
State v. Torres
...to kill one person, accidentally kills an innocent bystander or another unintended victim." State v. Fekete , 1995-NMSC-049, ¶ 21, 120 N.M. 290, 901 P.2d 708 (citation omitted). "Contrary to what its name implies, the transferred intent doctrine does not refer to any actual intent that is c......
-
State v. Baroz
...to make an independent determination of whether a defendant's confession was voluntary." State v. Fekete , 1995-NMSC-049, ¶ 34, 120 N.M. 290, 901 P.2d 708. "[T]he preponderance of the evidence must establish that the confession was not ‘extracted from an accused through fear, coercion, hope......