State v. Holmquist

• Decision Date: 31 May 1977
• Citation: 376 A.2d 1111,173 Conn. 140
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE of Connecticut v. Nels Gene HOLMQUIST.

Page 1111

376 A.2d 1111

173 Conn. 140

STATE of Connecticut v. Nels Gene HOLMQUIST.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued March 3, 1977.

Decided May 31, 1977.

Howard I. Gemeiner, New Haven, for appellant (defendant).

Ernest J. Diette, Jr., Asst. State's Atty., with whom, on the brief, was Arnold Markle, State's Atty., for appellee (state).

Before HOUSE, C. J., and LOISELLE, BOGDANSKI, LONGO and SPEZIALE, JJ.

SPEZIALE, Associate Justice.

On January 19, 1970, the defendant was indicted by a grand jury for the crime of murder in the first degree. On a trial to a jury, the defendant was found guilty of the crime of the lesser included offense of murder in the second degree and the court, after denying the defendant's motion to set aside the verdict, sentenced the defendant to life imprisonment. The defendant has appealed to this court, assigning eight claims of error but briefing only three. Assignments of error which are not briefed are deemed abandoned. State v. Williams, 170 Conn. 618, 619, 368 A.2d 140; State v. Beauton, 170 Conn. 234, 236-37, 365 A.2d 1105.

The murder charge arose from the fatal shooting of Alexander Sim of Milford by the defendant, Nels Holmquist. The relevant facts were not in substantial dispute and can be briefly summarized: On November 11, 1969, at approximately 9 p. m., the defendant approached Sim as he was emerging from his automobile and fatally shot him in the face and abdomen with a small handgun. The defendant had been keeping company with Agnes Sim, the victim's wife, for some time prior to the shooting. The defendant was seen running from the Sim automobile shortly after sounds, likened to gunshots, were heard coming from the car. During the trial, the defendant did not contest that he had shot Sim but claimed that he should not be held accountable for the killing because of the insanity which had overtaken him at the time of the shooting. In support of his claim, the defendant introduced psychiatric testimony that he had become emotionally unstable, paranoid, overly suspicious and overly jealous. The psychiatrists appearing for the defendant at trial further testified that his personality disorder and mental defect were such that they more likely than not rendered him unable to control his conduct to the extent that he would commit an unlawful killing. There was other testimony, however, from which the jury could reasonably conclude that the defendant on the day in question did not lack substantial capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law, which was the test of insanity to be applied under the law that existed at the time of trial. ¹

The defendant first claims that the court erred in refusing to charge the jury on the effect of a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity. The record discloses that the defendant requested in writing that the trial court charge the jury as follows: "If you find the insanity as well as the guilt of the accused is clear, I instruct you that a verdict of not guilty on the grounds of insanity will subject the accused to such restraint so as to prevent him from doing injury to the person or property of others." The defendant's brief contains no authority to indicate that the requested charge accurately stated the law existing at the time of his trial. See State v. Green, 172 Conn. 22, 25, 372 A.2d 133; State v. Brown, 163 Conn. 52, 60, 301 A.2d 547. Our cases definitively hold that a court is not obliged to charge the jury on the effect of a verdict that a defendant is not guilty by reason of insanity. As we have very recently stated: "(W)e are unpersuaded that we should reconsider our consistent rulings that a defendant does not have a right to have the jury charged on the effect of a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity." State v. Green, supra; State v. Uriano, 165 Conn. 104, 105, 328 A.2d 679; State v. Pastet, 152 Conn. 81, 85, 203 A.2d 287; State v. Wade, 96 Conn. 238, 242, 113 A. 458. This well-established general rule is widely followed by other courts, despite some conflict among the jurisdictions as to whether it is actually improper to give the requested charge or whether it is a matter resting in the court's discretion. See annot., 11 A.L.R.3d 737, and cases cited therein. In support of the rule that a defendant has no right to a jury charge on the effect of a not guilty verdict by reason of insanity, it has been said: "Two basic reasons are given for the majority position: first, it is considered that to inform the jury about posttrial disposition of the defendant might confuse the issue or issues to be decided, thereby drawing the attention of the jury away from their chief function of judging the facts. . . . Another reason given is that such an instruction might tend to influence the jury to find the existence of mental irresponsibility by deviating from the strict confines of the evidence on mental disorders. In fact, it has been said that such an instruction actually amounts to an invitation for the jury to reach a compromise verdict and find the defendant mentally irresponsible because he will be confined anyway." People v. Adams, 26 N.Y.2d 129, 138, 309 N.Y.S.2d 145, 151, 257 N.E.2d 610, 614, cert. denied, 399 U.S. 931, 90 S.Ct. 2262, 26 L.Ed.2d 800. "Generally speaking, the jury's duty, as distinguished from that of the court, is to decide the issue of defendant's guilt or innocence. The defense of insanity does no more than present a question for the jury's consideration in determining that issue. . . . After the jury has made its determination it becomes the duty of the court . . . to impose sentence or make such other disposition as is required by law. In making its determination, the jury should not be influenced by a consideration of what will be the result of its verdict, nor should its attention be distracted from its chief function." State v. Conforti, 53 N.J. 239, 244, 250 A.2d 6, 9; see annot., 11 A.L.R.3d 737, and cases cited therein. The only support offered by the defendant in furtherance of his attempt to have us change our established rule on this issue consists of a line of cases from the District of Columbia representing a distinctly minority position. "Taking a radically different view of the matter, the courts in the District of Columbia hold that (an instruction on the effect of a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity) is not only proper, but necessary . . . unless the defendant affirmatively objects to it." Annot., 11 A.L.R.3d 737, 739. Neither these cases nor their rationale persuade us that we should reconsider our consistent rulings on this matter. State v. Green, 172 Conn. 22, 25, 372 A.2d 133.

The defendant also claims that the court committed reversible error in its supplemental charge to the jury on the question of the presumption of sanity. To place the supplemental charge properly in context, it is necessary to consider the overall charge pertaining to the burden of proof on the insanity issue. See State v. Crawford, 172 Conn. 65, 69, 372 A.2d 154; State v. Ralls, 167 Conn. 408, 422, 356 A.2d 147. At the beginning of its main charge dealing with the mental element necessary for a conviction of murder, the court instructed the jury that the "law presumes all persons sane unless and until the contrary appears" and the state "in opening its case before you, had a right to rely on this presumption. Therefore, in the order of proof, the state put in no evidence of sanity in opening its case." (Emphasis added.) The court further stated that "if that question is to be raised, it is the duty of the defense to offer evidence bearing upon it" and "when insanity is put in issue by the accused, the presumption of sanity is no longer present, and the jury is no longer concerned with it, and the jury must determine whether or not the state has proven beyond a reasonable doubt the sanity of the accused at the time of the alleged act." Thereafter, the court repeatedly and explicitly instructed the jury that in the case before them the state had the burden of proving the defendant's sanity beyond a reasonable doubt. Because of an exception from the state, the court instructed the jury in a supplemental charge ² that when they were told that a person is presumed sane until evidence of insanity is introduced by the defense, the court should actually have specified that the presumption does not lose its operative value until substantial evidence tending to prove insanity comes into the case. See State v. Conte, 157 Conn. 209, 212-15, 251 A.2d 81, cert. denied, 396 U.S. 964, 90 S.Ct. 439, 24 L.Ed.2d 428. The only exception ³ the defense took to this charge was a nebulous one which did not raise the point now set forth in this assignment of error. The defendant now claims for the very first time on this appeal that the error in the supplemental charge was that it seemed to suggest to the jury that they, the jury, were to determine whether the defendant had introduced the substantial quantum of evidence necessary to raise the issue of insanity, whereas this determination should be a legal question for the court to decide. This specific point was not even remotely suggested to the trial court by the defendant's exception, nor was the matter covered by a written request to charge. This court is not bound to consider claimed errors on the part of the trial court unless it appears that the question was distinctly raised at the trial and was ruled upon and decided by the court adversely to the appellant's claim. Practice Book §§ 249, 652; State v. Simms, 170 Conn. 206, 208, 365 A.2d 821. Only in exceptional circumstances will this court consider newly raised claims. "The first is . . . where a new constitutional right not readily foreseeable has arisen between the time of trial and appeal. . . . The second 'exceptional circumstance' may arise where the record adequately supports a claim that a litigant has clearly been...