Taylor v. Com.

• Citation: 157 S.E.2d 185,208 Va. 316
• Parties: Morgan TAYLOR v. COMMONWEALTH of Virginia (two cases).
• Decision Date: 09 October 1967
• Court: Supreme Court of Virginia

Page 185

157 S.E.2d 185

208 Va. 316

Morgan TAYLOR v. COMMONWEALTH of Virginia (two cases).

Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia.

Oct. 9, 1967.

Montie S. Meeks, Norton, for plaintiff in error.

D. Gardiner Tyler, Asst. Atty. Gen. (Robert Y. Button, Atty. Gen., on brief), for defendant in error.

Before EGGLESTON, C.J., and BUCHANAN, SNEAD, I'ANSON, CARRICO and GORDON, JJ. ^*

SNEAD, Justice.

On February 10, 1959, Morgan Taylor, defendant, was by a jury found guilty of murder in the first degree of his wife, Rena Taylor, and of murder in the second degree of his sister-in-law, Lakie Babb. By agreement he was tried on both indictments in the same proceeding. In accordance with the verdicts, the trial court sentenced defendant to confinement in the State penitentiary for 20 years on each indictment. The order provided that the terms were to run consecutively. This delayed appeal resulted from a Habeas corpus proceeding.

The facts concerning the tragedy are not in dispute. At approximately 9 a.m. on October 4, 1955, Morgan Taylor entered Estes Hardware Company in Coeburn and told Harley Counts, the clerk who had known Taylor since 1922, that he wanted to but a pistol. They could not agree on the purchase price of it, and after some social conversation defendant left the store. A few moments later he appeared at the home of his sister-in-law, Lakie Babb, in Coeburn where his wife was staying. The Taylors had resided in Scott county, but due to marital difficulties Mrs. Taylor left the home about two weeks before. Mrs. Babb met Taylor in her yard and the two talked briefly, presumably about his wife returning home. Ella Babb, daughter of Lakie Babb, was sitting on the front steps but could not hear the conversation. However, she did hear defendant say as he was departing that 'he would go get him a gun and he would come back.' According to Ella, Mrs. Babb was not 'upset' because '(h)is wife said he was just blowing, she didn't believe it.'

Taylor returned to the hardware store and purchased a .22 calibre revolver and a box of shells after Counts, the clerk, agreed to give him an extra box. Counts asked him why he wanted the revolver. Taylor replied that 'he was a pretty good shot' and was going to kill some squirrels.

Taylor then returned to the Babb home. According to Ella Babb, '(h)e just come to the front door. My mother (Lakie Babb) opened the door for him * * * (and) told him he wasn't going to start no disturbance.' After stating that he would not start a disturbance, Taylor 'grabbed' the pistol which was lodged under his belt. Ella jumped in front of her mother and was shot by defendant in the breast. Then he turned and shot Mrs. Babb 'about the face.' She died instantly and Ella was severely wounded.

Defendant then chased his wife through the Babb house and into the yard. While running and screaming she was carrying a two-month-old baby in her arms. After firing several shots defendant mortally wounded her. He then approached his wife, who had collapsed, pointed the revolver at her head, snapped it several times, but it did not fire. Fortunately, the infant was not harmed. Taylor left the scene headed on the road toward Dungannon.

Taylor was apprehended and arrested by Bill Patterson, chief of police of Coeburn, a short distance from the scene of the crimes. He was found sitting on concrete steps of an old restaurant which had been partially razed by the State Highway Department. He was bleeding from a gash in his head sustained by a fall on the steps. A search of defendant's person revealed a 'pint bottle' that was 'broke all to pieces', a box of .22 long cartridges together with some loose ones and a large quantity of tablets. While in the patrol car he was seen eating an undetermined number of these tablets, which were described as white 'just a size larger than aspirin tablets.' The record does not disclose what they contained. Later, the revolver was found on top of the roof of the building.

Patterson drove Taylor to the Coeburn jail and from there he was transported by Sheriff Harold Fleming to the Wise county jail. On the next day, October 5, he was admitted in an unconscious condition to St. Mary's Hospital in Norton where he was treated by Dr. T. J. Tudor, Chief of Staff. An examination revealed an old wound on top of the head which had broken open. Dr. Tudor also discovered a 'bruise on his shoulder and clavicle region, left side.' While at the hospital Taylor ran a temperature as high as 104.5 degrees and would give but 'few feeble, uncertain responsive answers' to questions.

On October 7, under the provisions of Code, § 19--202 (now § 19.1--228), upon motion of the Commonwealth's attorney, the Circuit Court of Wise County committed Taylor to the Southwestern State Hospital in Marion 'for observation and report as to his mental condition, if possible, at the time of the commission of the said offense on October 4, 1955, and at the time of said examination and discharge from the said hospital.'

In his forwarding report to the Superintendent of Southwestern State Hospital, dated October 7, 1955, Dr. Tudor stated, among other things, that '(w)e feel that there is blood stream infection, probably found in his head wound. Evidently much of his attitude is incident to the crime he has committed.'

Subsequently, on October 21, 1955, defendant was indicted by the grand jury for the murders of Rena Taylor and Lakie Babb. He was also indicted for the attempted murder of Ella Babb.

On May 21, 1956, Judge George Morton of the Wise County Circuit Court, was advised by Dr. Joseph R. Blalock, Superintendent, and Dr. R. G. Blackwelder, then Clinical Director, of Southwestern State Hospital, that defendant was 'psychotically insane and has been psychotically insane since admission.'

Thereafter, on August 1, 1956, all of the pending indictments against defendant were Nolle prossed.

By letter dated, August 29, 1958, the court was advised:

'The above named patient was admitted in the criminally insane department on October 7, 1955, having been committed by this Court for observation report. On May 21, 1956, a report to the Court concerning his mental condition stated he was considered to be insane or psychotic. On August 24, 1958, in accordance with the Code of Virginia, Paragraph (section) 37--93, he was examined by a Commission of two State Hospital Superintendents, namely, Dr. James B. Powers (Pettis), Superintendent of Western State Hospital, Staunton, Virginia, and Joseph R. Blalock, Superintendent of Southwestern State Hospital, Marion, Virginia. It is the opinion of the Commission that he is now recovered and is able to stand trial.'

As a result of this finding, defendant was on October 20, 1958, again indicted for the two murders and also the attempted murder. Two attorneys were appointed by the court to represent him on November 15, 1958, and defendant was returned to Wise county jail on November 17, 1958.

At the trial on the two indictments charging murder which commenced on February 9, 1959, defendant entered pleas of not guilty by reason of insanity.

In his assignments of error relied upon, defendant in substance makes these contentions: (1) that he was denied his right to counsel under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States when counsel was not appointed for him until three years, one month and ten days after the date of the alleged offenses; (2) that he was denied a speedy trial and the immediate appointment of counsel; (3) that Instruction No. I--1 was erroneous because it placed the burden on defendant to prove insanity; (4) that the court erred in permitting the jury to pass upon his mental condition on October 4, 1955, when the uncontradicted evidence of the Commonwealth showed that he was insane on October 7, 1955, and (5) that he was prejudiced by improper remarks made by the Commonwealth's attorney during his closing argument.

Points (1) and (2) will be considered together. Defendant argues that his constitutional rights were violated when he was not afforded counsel until more than three years after the date of the alleged offenses. He says that this delay denied him 'the right to counsel at critical stages in his pretrial procedure', and the 'preparation of the defense was postponed indefinitely until the state had completed its case.'

In support of his position, defendant relies upon Timmons v. Peyton, 4 Cir., 360 F.2d 327. (Proceeding on petition for writ of Habeas corpus.) On October 19, 1961, Timmons shot two women, killing one and seriously wounding the other. He then proceeded to have sexual intercourse with the one who was alive and perhaps the dead woman. The next day a confession was taken by the police. On October 25, Timmons was committed to the Southwestern State Hospital to determine whether he was competent to stand trial and also whether he was sane at the time of the commission of the offenses. On December 20 Dr. Blalock, Superintendent of the hospital, advised the court that Timmons was competent to stand trial. In an amended report dated December 27, Dr. Blalock stated that Timmons was sane at the time of the commission of the offense. On January 20, 1962, Timmons, on the advice of police, waived a preliminary hearing. Counsel was appointed for him on February 1, and on February 5, the grand jury returned an indictment for murder. Timmons was convicted of the offense by a jury in April, 1962.

In reversing the District Court, the Circuit Court of Appeals (4th Cir.) held, among other things, that Timmons 'was denied due process by being delayed for over three and one-half months in the preparation of his defense while the state was actively seeking evidence to convict', and that 'the cumulative effect of the state's conduct constituted a denial of the petitioner's Fourteenth Amendment right to due process and his Sixth Amendment right to counsel * * *.'

The decision in that case does lend support to defendant's...