State v. Sadvari
Decision Date | 15 June 1983 |
Docket Number | No. 82-077,82-077 |
Citation | 462 A.2d 102,123 N.H. 410 |
Parties | The STATE of New Hampshire v. Stephen J. SADVARI. |
Court | New Hampshire Supreme Court |
Gregory H. Smith, Atty. Gen. (Martha V.O. Gordon, Asst. Atty. Gen., on brief and orally), for the State.
James E. Duggan, Appellate Defender, Concord, by brief and orally, for defendant.
The defendant appeals from a jury verdict finding him guilty of first-degree murder, RSA 630:1-a, and sane, RSA 628:2. He claims that the evidence of premeditation and deliberation was insufficient to support the jury's verdict, and that the Trial Court (Johnson, J.) gave an erroneous instruction on insanity. We affirm the defendant's conviction.
Evidence at trial tended to establish the following facts: In the summer of 1980, the defendant, Stephen Sadvari, and his girlfriend, Cathy Clark, moved from Pennsylvania to New Hampshire. Sadvari obtained a job at the South Wentworth farm of Robert Duncan, who resided there with his girlfriend, Patricia Keefe, and their two-and-one-half-year-old son Jason. In January 1981, Cathy Clark left the defendant, resulting in his becoming depressed and bitter.
On February 25, 1981, while Duncan was away on business, Keefe hosted a party which the defendant attended. At the party, the defendant became extremely intoxicated as a result of taking several drugs, including cocaine and PCP. While he was intoxicated, he expressed resentment toward Duncan and stated that he needed money. He also made sexual advances toward Keefe, which she rejected as she had in the past.
The following morning, one of the guests at the party, who had spent the night at the Duncan residence, observed the defendant drink a glass of clear liquid. By mid-morning, all the guests from the previous night's party had departed, leaving Keefe, her son, and the defendant alone at the farm. The defendant then took more PCP as well as some caffeine pills.
Sometime during that afternoon, the defendant killed Keefe. He began his assault on the victim either in the kitchen or the living room; she was stabbed several times in the back. At some point during the initial assault, Keefe's son, Jason, attempted to hit the defendant with a fireplace poker. The defendant broke off his attack upon Keefe long enough to lock Jason in the bathroom. When the defendant returned to the living room, Keefe was trying to make a telephone call. He took the telephone away from her, hung up the receiver, and renewed his attack upon her. There was evidence of a violent struggle throughout the entire downstairs area of the Duncan residence.
After the incident, the defendant fled to Pennsylvania, where he made certain statements about the crime to various individuals. These statements were admitted at trial. The defendant was arrested in Pennsylvania and returned to New Hampshire. He was indicted for first-degree murder and theft, and although he was convicted of both offenses, he has not appealed the theft conviction.
The defendant indicated that he would plead the defense of insanity based upon drug intoxication, and he received a bifurcated trial in which the defendant's guilt of first-degree murder and theft and his sanity were considered separately. At trial, three psychiatrists testified as to the defendant's state of mind at the time of the murder. Two of the psychiatrists expressed their opinions that the defendant was not suffering from PCP psychosis when the murder occurred, while the third psychiatrist testified that he believed the defendant was suffering from PCP psychosis.
The defendant was found guilty of first-degree murder and theft. After a hearing on the sanity issue, the jury retired to consider whether the defendant was insane when he committed the offenses. During this phase of the deliberations, the jury sent a written question to the trial judge asking whether it must find that the defendant was insane if it found that he was mentally ill due to voluntary intoxication. The trial judge instructed the jury as follows:
"Neither delusion, nor knowledge of right or wrong, nor design or cunning in planning and executing the crimes and escaping or avoiding detection, nor the ability to recognize acquaintances, or to labor, or transact business, or manage affairs, is as a matter of law, a test of mental disease; but all symptoms and all tests of mental disease are purely matters of fact for you the jury to determine.
It is only when the defendant claims that his condition of chronic drug abuse constitutes a mental disease or insanity which renders him incapable of exercising his volition and thus constitutes a complete defense to a criminal act that he will be excused under the provisions of RSA 628:2 ....
Temporary insanity resulting from voluntary intoxication is not a complete defense under the provisions of RSA 628:2 ...."
(Emphasis added.) The defendant objected and excepted to this answer. The jury then determined that the defendant was sane at the time of the offenses.
On appeal, the defendant contends that there was insufficient evidence to support a finding beyond a reasonable doubt that he acted purposely in causing the death of Patricia Keefe, as defined by RSA 630:1-a, II. In determining the sufficiency of the evidence to support the jury's verdict, we must consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution and determine whether any rational trier of fact could have found guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Glidden, 122 N.H. 41, 49, 441 A.2d 728, 733 (1982); Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 318-19, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2788-89, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979).
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