State v. Tyler

• Decision Date: 05 March 1970
• Docket Number: No. 40434,40434
• Citation: 466 P.2d 120,77 Wn.2d 726
• Court: Washington Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE of Washington, Respondent, v. Ernest James TYLER, Appellant.

Page 726

77 Wn.2d 726

466 P.2d 120

STATE of Washington, Respondent, v. Ernest James TYLER, Appellant.

No. 40434.

Supreme Court of Washington, En Banc.

March 5, 1970.

Rehearing Denied May 27, 1970.

McDonell & Alfieri, Seattle, for appellant.

Charles O. Carroll, Seattle, for respondent.

HALE, Judge.

It was a tragic twist of fate that brought Ada White and Mary Robertson to the rear entrance of the Town House Apartments at about 2 o'clock in the morning. They had taken Mary Robertson's dog for a brief outing, and a few minutes earlier or later would have escaped the defendant. As things turned out, the short stroll cost Ada White her life and brought the defendant before the court for murder in the first degree. The murder of Ada White was but one of eight felony counts set forth in the amended information filed against Ernest James Tyler in the Superior Court for King County.

Count 1 charged him with the robbery of Douglas Ralph Schley by means of a deadly weapon on February 21, 1968. Count 2 charged him with the robbery of Alfred Knapp on February 22, 1968; count 3 charged assault in the first degree with a deadly weapon committed upon Alfred Knapp in perpetrating the robbery. Count 4 charged Tyler with the robbery of Stanley Burrell while armed with a deadly weapon on February 22, 1968; count 5 charged assault in the first degree committed upon Stanley Burrel while perpetrating that robbery. Count 6 accused the defendant of the attempted robbery of Ada White, February 22, 1968; and count 7 charged the first-degree murder of Ada White committed both with a premeditated design to effect her death and while engaged in committing, attempting to commit or withdrawing from the scene of a robbery. Count 8 charged the defendant with the attempted robbery of Mary Robertson February 22, 1968.

The jury found Tyler guilty on each of the eight counts and returned a special verdict on each count that at the time of the commission of the crime he was armed with a deadly weapon. It returned a special verdict on count 7, the first-degree murder count, that the death penalty be inflicted. From a judgment sentencing him to life imprisonment on each count except count 7 and to death in accordance with the verdict of the jury on count 7, the defendant appeals. The evidence supports the judgment. There is abundant credible evidence in the record to permit the jury to find the defendant guilty of murder, robbery and assault as charged in the eight counts.

In addition to a general plea of not guilty to each count, the defendant entered a special plea of insanity and mental irresponsibility, alleging he was insane and mentally irresponsible at the time of the commission of the acts charged, and that thereafter the became, and at the time of plea was, sane and mentally responsible. Since the defendant assigns error to the court's withdrawal of this plea of insanity and raises other points concerning his mental condition, it will be necessary to relate the evidence in detail as to his actions and demeanor.

At about 2 a.m., February 21, 1968, Douglas Ralph Schley was finishing his shift as a bartender in the Pee Wee Tavern, Seattle, when the defendant walked in and sat at a stool opposite the cash register. Mr. Schley served him a schooner of beer which he paid for. When everyone had left the tavern, the defendant ordered a 6-pack of Budweiser, and Mr. Schley walked to the cooler to fetch it. Tyler walked toward the cooler with Schley. Schley testified that, when he bent over to reach the 6-pack, the defendant put a gun to his head and said, 'You know what this is * * * Let's get with it. I am going to kill you.' Schley said the defendant uttered a few obscenities, told him to shut up, and repeated that he would kill him. Under menace of the gun, the bartender then went to the cash register and took out all the cash and change. He said the defendant would not touch the money and insisted that he open the safe. Complying with Tyler's orders, Schley put all of the money from the cash register--bills and change--into a paper bag and handed it to the defendant. The defendant took the bag and said, 'Let's take the safe,' and followed Schley to the backroom. Schley told Tyler that he did not have the combination, and the defendant replied, 'Don't get smart with me, or I will kill you.'

In the tavern's back room, the defendant, still holding the gun on him, took his keys and wallet which held not over a dollar, and when Schley asked him to leave the wallet, the defendant uttered some more obscenities and again said he was going to kill him. Just about the time he was taking the wallet and keys, Schley said, the defendant acted as though he heard something, and walked out of the back room. Schley closed the door and it locked automatically, and he heard the defendant try the key in the door and say, 'Open up, or I will blow the door.' Schley waited 5 minutes, but heard no sound of the defendant leaving. He then opened the door, found the defendant gone, and telephoned the police. Schley identified the defendant in a police lineup and in court as the man who had robbed him. He described the defendant as a 'Nice looking guy,' with 'kind of crazy' eyes, but amplified that statement to say that he meant by it that the defendant was not to be reasoned with, could not be talked out of anything, and had to be 'out of his brain,' adding that 'Anybody that goes around shooting people is not reasonable.'

The next count charged robbery of and assault upon a taxi driver. Alfred T. Knapp, early in the morning of February 22nd, was seated in his Grey Top cab at Queen Anne and Mercer Streets when a radio call directed him to Dez's 400 Tavern. He parked his cab at the front door and, walking into the tavern, asked the bartender who had called a cab. The bartender indicated Tyler, who nodded and followed Mr. Knapp to the cab. Tyler opened the front door and seated himself beside the driver. He told Knapp he wanted an address on Eastlake and said, 'Drive to the corner and turn right,' a direction which would take them North. Mr. Knapp followed these directions for a while and as they crossed Taylor Avenue he turned to his passenger and asked what part of Eastlake the defendant wished. The defendant, now with a gun in his right hand pointed at the driver's ribs, said, 'Never mind, Eastlake.' He directed Knapp to drive up into an alley in the 550 block of Roy Street and then ordered him to turn off into a wide space in the alley and stop. Knapp testified that, while holding the gun, 'He went through my pockets. He asked for my money, and I took everything out that I had in my pockets and gave it to him.' Describing how Tyler, in making a search, felt a strap on his body and struck him with the pistol, Knapp then testified:

A. Yes, he felt the strap. I have an artificial leg, and he felt the strap on the leg, and he said, 'Do you have a money belt?' Q. What was your response? A. I said, 'No, that is a strap on my leg.' Q. And then what happened? A. He ordered me to get out of the cab on the left-hand side, on the driver's side and not move. Q. And did you comply with this? A. I did. Q. And then what occurred? A. He walked me over to the corner of the back of the house where there is a garbage dumpster. Q. By that, what do you mean? A. Well, it is disposal. Companies put them out. They hold several garbage cans. They are about four feet high roughly. Q. And you say he directed you to one of these? A. Yes, and he laid the lid on the ground of the garbage dumpster and took his left hand and spread everything out that was in there and then ordered me to get into it. Q. Did you make any statements with respect to his request? A. I told him I couldn't get into it. Q. Did you explain to him why? A. Yes. Q. What did you say? A. I said, 'I have an artificial leg. I cannot get up that high.' Q. And at that point, then what happened? A. He ordered me to turn around and face the dumpster. Q. And did you comply with this request?

A. Yes. Q. And what happened following this? A. Well, he stood at my back. Q. Were you able to hear or see anything that was going on behind you? A. I was able to hear that gun click in my back. Q. And then what occurred? A. Well, It was only a few seconds. He said, 'I won't hurt you.' And, with that, he hit me on the head. Q. And after being hit on the head, did you remain conscious or lose consciousness? A. I lost consciousness for a few seconds.

Mr. Knapp went on to say that the defendant took $42 from him and that he had to be taken to the hospital where he got his head stitched. The papers inside his wallet were never returned. He described his assailant to the police as being about 6 foot 2 inches and weighing 175 to 180 pounds, clean shaven, of sandy complexion and wearing a black raincoat and a colored shirt. He identified the defendant in a police lineup later that day, February 22nd, and again in court at the trial, as the man who had robbed and slugged him with the pistol.

Mr. Knapp testified that, during the robbery, the defendant took the inside of his wallet and business cards, saying, 'I will take these because they have my fingerprints on them,' and that he appeared to know what he was doing. On cross-examination, Mr. Knapp said that, throughout the robbery, defendant was very calm, acted normal in perpetrating a robbery and was, as he put it, all business. Describing Tyler's normal manner to the jury, he said, 'he went about what he was doing in a normal sort of way * * * Just like he was concentrating on what he was doing,' and that he seemed without apparent nervousness, apprehension or fear.

Another taxicab driver who crossed defendant's path that early morning of February 22nd in Seattle was Stanley Burrell. As Mr. Burrell sat in his Farwest cab parked at 6th and Pike reading a newspaper, the defendant opened the front door, climbed in and told Burrell to take him to the 200 or 300 block on Belmont East....