State v. Severns

• Decision Date: 07 March 1959
• Docket Number: No. 41061,41061
• Citation: State v. Severns, 184 Kan. 213, 336 P.2d 447 (Kan. 1959)
• Parties: STATE of Kansas, Appellee, v. Walter Ray SEVERNS, Appellant.
• Court: Kansas Supreme Court

Page 447

336 P.2d 447

184 Kan. 213

STATE of Kansas, Appellee, v. Walter Ray SEVERNS, Appellant.

No. 41061.

Supreme Court of Kansas.

March 7, 1959.

Syllabus by the Court

1. No person can be compelled to answer to, or defend against, a criminal charge if mentally unable at the time to do so in a rational manner, when such disability has developed after the alleged commission of the crime.

2. The test of insanity of an accused precluding his being put on trial for a criminal offense is his capacity to comprehend his position, understand the nature and object of the proceedings against him and to conduct his defense in a rational manner.

3. If the defendant in a criminal action is capable of understanding the nature and object of the proceedings pending against him, if he rightly comprehends his own condition with reference to such proceedings, and can conduct his defense in a rational manner, he is, for the purpose of being tried, to be deemed sane, although on some other subject his mind may be deranged or unsound.

4. The record in a criminal prosecution for murder examined, and it is held, that under the facts, conditions and circumstances, and for reasons, set forth at length in the opinion, the trial court did not err (1) in overruling defendant's motion for a continuance of the trial, based on the premise he had suffered a memory loss and was incapable of making a rational defense and (2) in rendering judgment in accord with the verdict, finding him guilty of murder.

E. Lael Alkire and Aubrey J. Bradley, Jr., Wichita, argued the cause and were on the briefs for appellant.

Keith Sanborn, County Atty., and Nicholas W. Klein, Deputy County Atty., Wichita, argued the cause, and Warner Moore, Wichita, and John Anderson, Jr., Atty. Gen., and Robert E. Hoffman, Asst. Atty. Gen., were with them on the brief, for appellee.

PARKER, Chief Justice.

This is the second appearance in this court of an appeal by Walter Ray Severns in a criminal action, the present appeal being from a conviction of murder in the second degree.

A historical review of the background of this criminal prosecution from the date of its inception is essential to a proper understanding of the events and circumstances giving rise to the instant appeal.

In 1943 the defendant, after having been first examined and found sane by a sanity commission, was tried in the district court of Sedgwick County on an information charging him with murder in the first degree of Inez Viola Burling, a child eight years of ago. Such child was a niece of the defendant's wife and was living in the Severns home at the time of her death. At the conclusion of the trial, at which the defendant testified as a witness in his own behalf, the jury found him guilty as charged and determined the punishment to be death. Following the denial of his motion for a new trial the trial court rendered judgment on the verdict. Thereupon defendant appealed to this court, specifying that the court erred in its rulings on the introduction of evidence, in submitting the cause to the jury on the charge of murder in the first degree, and in instructing the jury. On review of the appeal we held his claims of error with respect to rulings on the introduction of evidence and in submitting the cause to the jury on the charge of murder in the first degree were without merit but reversed the judgment solely on the ground of error in other instructions.

It is neither necessary nor required that we here review the sordid facts on which, in the first appeal, we held specifically that under the evidence of record the trial court would have committed error had it failed to give an instruction on murder in the first degree, or detail the reasons given for reversing the case on the basis of error in other instructions. It suffices to say those facts and reasons are already spread at length on the pages of our reports and readily available to readers of this opinion, who may desire further information with respect thereto, upon resort to State v. Severns, 158 Kan. 453, 148 P.2d 488.

After his first conviction the defendant was incarcerated in the state penitentiary pending his appeal. Sometime thereafter the then Warden of the penitentiary requested the district court for a hearing under the provisions of G.S.1935, 62-2406, now G.S.1949, 62-2406, providing for a commission to examine into the sanity of a person awaiting the death penalty. Pursuant to this request the district court caused an investigation to be made and, after a conference with the members of the trial sanity commission, denied the request.

On November 19, 1944, following our reversal of the previous judgment and sentence and prior to the date set for his second trial, a new commission was appointed. It found defendant to be suffering from a prison psychosis, rendering him insane and unable to comprehend his position and to make his defense. Thereupon, as required by statute (G.S.1949, 62-1531), he was admitted to the State Hospital for the Dangerous Insane at Larned where he remained, undergoing treatment, until May 15, 1957, when, under direction of proper officials of that institution, he was returned to the court from which he was received to again stand trial for the crime of murder in the first degree as charged in the information.

Upon defendant's return to Sedgwick County the district court appointed counsel to represent him. Thereafter, and on May 27, 1957, his counsel, E. Lael Alkire, filed a motion alleging in substance that (1) defendant might be an insane person, hence incapable of comprehending his position and of advising his attorney of such defenses he might have; and (2) that he had been a sufferer from a mental illness known as schizophrenic reaction, catatonic type, and as a result, by-product, or residual thereof, he was suffering from memory gaps, and unable to remember anything whatsoever concerning the alleged crime and therefore incapable of defending himself. Such motion then asked for the appointment of a commission to determine whether the defendant (1) was presently sane or insane; (2) was suffering from a mental disturbance known as schizophrenic reaction, catatonic type, and (3) as a result of his mental illness he had suffered a loss of memory, particularly as to the time pertinent to the alleged crime and the occurrences surrounding it.

The court granted the foregoing motion and appointed a commission, consisting of three qualified physicians. This commission conducted a series of examinations and then returned its report. Portions thereof, set forth in the abstract as pertinent to this appeal, read:

'1. From a review of reports received from the Larned State Hospital--the social history, the psychological testing and the psychiatric interview--it would be our impression that this patient is suffering from a condition diagnosed as schizophrenic reaction, paranoid type, in partial remission manifested by massive repression resulting in memory loss, by flatness of affect by hyperalertness and that the manifestations of his illness are now on a characterological level.

'2. It is our opinion that at the present time this person would be considered competent, that he knows the nature of the alleged crime and that he knows right from wrong; that his memory loss is not on an organic basis, nor is it a form of malingering but is part of the mental illness which is still present.

'3. The question as to whether or not the memory loss makes this patient unable to take part in his own defense must be answered as a legal question and not as a medical one. One may argue that he would be capable of assisting in his own defense because at the present time he is competent, knows right from wrong and has sufficient judgment, even though he does not remember the events of the crime. Or one might argue that because he does not remember the events of the crime, he could not help prepare his defense.

'4. * * * However, it is recognized that the presence of a mental illness does not necessarily mean that a person was incompetent or does not know the nature of his acts, or right from wrong.

'5. As to the outlook of this patient, the psychological tests would indicate that this patient would react poorly to stress and that under stress there would be a possibility a return of more severe symptoms. It would also be expected that this person's control of his impulsive behavior would be poor and, therefore, he would be expected to have a greater tendency to impulsive destructive behavior than the average person; that the possibility of expecting a greater social remission or social recovery from this patient by further treatment would be considered poor to hopeless.'

It should be noted that at the time of the return of the report all three members of the commission were personally present; that, for the benefit of court and counsel, each member was sworn as a witness and examined at length; and that their statement was in line with the findings made in such report. It should also be noted that, when the examination of the members of the commission was concluded, defendant's counsel moved for an order continuing the trial of the case indefinitely on grounds the defendant was still technically insane, in that he had suffered a memory loss, could not assist in his defense, and should be returned to the state hospital for further treatment; and that after a full and complete hearing on this motion the trial court made certain written findings which read:

'The Court Finds that the defendant, Severns, is not insane, nor an idiot, nor an imbecile; that he is able to comprehend his position at the present time, with reference to the charges pending against him; that he knows right from wrong at the present time; and that at the present time, he knows the nature of his acts.

'The Court Further Finds that the defendant, Severns, is suffering from a memory loss which memory loss includes that period of his life immediately...