Stevens v. State, 43546
| Decision Date | 18 November 1986 |
| Docket Number | No. 43546,43546 |
| Citation | 350 S.E.2d 21,256 Ga. 440 |
| Parties | STEVENS v. The STATE. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Rickie L. Brown, Brown & Milam, P.C., Dalton, for Gregory Rupert stevens.
Jack O. Partain III, Dist. Atty., Dalton, Michael J. Bowers, Atty. Gen., Eddie Snelling, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
Before a judge sitting without a jury, Gregory Rupert Stevens was tried for the murder of his wife, was found guilty but mentally ill, and was sentenced to life in prison. 1
The morning of October 20, 1985, the defendant and his wife left their home in Ohio to drive to Florida to visit the wife's parents. They ran out of gas in Georgia in the late afternoon on Interstate 75 and remained in their car parked off the interstate for over 24 hours during which time the defendant beat or strangled his wife to death.
In the late afternoon of October 21, the defendant walked to a nearby business, stated that he needed gas, and wanted to buy it from born-again Christians. He talked about religion and said he had left his wife in the car where angels guarded her. He left the business walking in the opposite direction from the gas stations which had been pointed out to him. That night a restaurant owner called the police after observing the defendant in the restaurant parking lot, staring into space for several hours. The defendant told the police that his wife was possessed by satan, that he had beaten satan out of her, and that she would arise the next day at noon, rid of the devil. He stated that his wife was cold and that he had covered her before he left to get gasoline. The officers found defendant's wife in defendant's car, dead, badly beaten, and covered with a housecoat and sweater. A notebook found in her purse listed the name of defendant's psychiatrist, his medications, and the times they were taken. The last entry of medication taken was on October 20 at 6:30 p.m. The officers observed heavy bruises on the defendant's hands and arms. Later that evening the defendant spoke to detectives willingly and at length, stating that he had beaten demons out of his wife's body with his hands and fists, that she was asleep in the car, and would rise the next day.
Stevens' defense at trial was insanity. He had undergone periodic psychiatric treatment for over 20 years prior to the homicide. Following his initial detention, he was sent for court-ordered evaluation and treatment to Central State Hospital where he stayed for 2 1/2 months. A forensic psychiatrist from that hospital testified at trial that the defendant was a manic depressive, suffered from a delusional compulsion, and could not distinguish right from wrong at the time of the murder. A social worker from the hospital testified that the defendant was one of the sickest patients the hospital had had in a long time.
The defendant contends that the trial court, sitting as trier of fact, erred in finding that the defendant failed to prove that he was insane at the time of the homicide within the meaning of OCGA § 16-3-2 () and OCGA § 16-3-3 (). He relies upon his mental history, the opinion of the expert forensic psychiatrist, and the observations of lay witnesses. The state also relies upon the testimony of the forensic psychiatrist and the contemporaneous facts.
The defendant acknowledges that he had the burden of proving insanity by a preponderance of the evidence. See Keener v. State, 254 Ga. 699, 701(1), 334 S.E.2d 175 (1985).
Murray v. State, 253 Ga. 90, 91-92, 317 S.E.2d 193 (1984).
However, in Brown v. State, 250 Ga. 66, 295 S.E.2d 727 (1982), we held that when the proof of insanity is overwhelming, juries may no longer rely solely on the presumption of sanity and concluded that "an appropriate standard of appellate review of the sufficiency of the evidence with regard to a jury's finding of sanity in a criminal case is whether after reviewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the state, a rational trier of fact could have found that the defendant failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that he was insane at the time of the crime." Id. at 71-72, 295 S.E.2d 727. Harris v. State, 256 Ga. 348, 349 S.E.2d 374 (1986); Keener, supra, 254 Ga. at 701, 334 S.E.2d 175.
We believe that the trier of fact in this case was obligated to find that the defendant carried his burden to prove that because of mental illness he was suffering from a delusional compulsion which...
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Croyle v. State
...the crime] at the time of the commission of the crime. OCGA § 17-7-131 (c) (1).") (brackets in original); Stevens v. State , 256 Ga. 440, 442, 350 S.E.2d 21 (1986) ("To support a finding that a defendant is not guilty of a criminal act under OCGA § 16-3-3, it must appear: (1) that the defen......
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