Taylor v. State

• Decision Date: 10 May 1991
• Docket Number: No. S91P0294,S91P0294
• Citation: 404 S.E.2d 255,261 Ga. 287
• Parties: TAYLOR v. The STATE.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

Page 255

404 S.E.2d 255

261 Ga. 287

TAYLOR v. The STATE.

No. S91P0294.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

May 10, 1991.

Reconsideration Denied June 7, 1991.

Kenneth E. Futch, Blackshear, Jimmy J. Boatright, Boatright and Futch, Alma, Kermit S. Dorough, Jr., Beauchamp & Associates, Albany, for Taylor.

Harry D. Dixon, Jr., Dist. Atty., Waycross, Michael J. Bowers, Atty. Gen., Atlanta, George E. Barnhill, Deborah M. Perlis, Asst. Attys. Gen., Waycross, C.A. Benjamin Woolf, Atty., State Law Dept., Atlanta, for the State.

Patsy Morris, Atlanta, for other appellant.

Joseph L. Chambers, Sr., Pros. Attys.' Council, Smyrna, for other appellee.

BENHAM, Justice.

The appellant, Keith Bryan Taylor, was convicted by a jury and sentenced to die for the murder of his wife Lori Taylor. ¹

1. The Taylors moved into an apartment in Blackshear in July of 1986. Two years later, in August of 1988, Lori Taylor removed Keith Taylor's name from the lease and changed the locks. After that time, according to the apartment manager, Keith Taylor "wasn't supposed to be living there." However, Keith Taylor apparently moved back into the apartment sometime before January 12, 1989. On that date, Lori Taylor's cousin drove Lori and Keith Taylor and their two children first to a pawn shop and then to the Pierce County Courthouse. Lori Taylor reported that her husband had threatened her and obtained a "good-behavior warrant." It was agreed that Keith Taylor would collect his personal effects from the apartment and move out. Lori Taylor rode back to the apartment with her cousin, while Keith Taylor walked the two blocks or so to the apartment with the two children. Less than 10 minutes later, a police officer drove to the apartments, to check on the situation following the issuance of the good-behavior warrant. When he arrived, the children were locked out of the apartment. The victim's cousin had heard the victim saying, "Keith, don't do it." The officer knocked on the door. Keith Taylor answered. There was blood on his jacket and his hands were "dripping" with blood. He told the officer to take him to jail.

Lori Taylor was still alive, but died after the arrival of emergency medical technicians. The autopsist testified that she had suffered painful but non-fatal wounds to her head, chest and back. In addition, she had suffered a potentially fatal stab wound deep enough to penetrate her pleural cavity which was two-thirds filled with blood when he conducted the autopsy. Her death was caused by a number of slash wounds which cut her neck practically from ear to ear, completely severed her trachea and reached "completely back to the front part of the cervical spine, or spinal column." The autopsist stated he could not say "exactly how many cuts were involved in making these wounds" because some cuts overlapped others and some likely "obliterated" others, but he could count "at least the beginning of six individual trails of incised wounds" in one of the two large gaping wounds "one above the other" in the neck. All the wounds appeared to have been inflicted before death.

A bloody knife was found in the front hall closet of the apartment. Keith Taylor's son identified the knife as one the defendant owned.

The evidence supports the jury's finding that Keith Taylor killed his wife. The defendant's primary defense was his mental condition. Although not conceding that he was the person who had committed the crime, he contended he was insane at the time of the crime or at least was mentally ill at the time of the crime.

Taylor testified on his own behalf at trial. He had been in the army for nine years. He had psychological and substance abuse problems while in the army and was discharged in 1984 after he refused to obey a direct order by a superior officer. After his discharge, he experienced considerable difficulty obtaining and keeping a job. He worked for three months with the city of Blackshear in 1986, but was terminated when he was injured on the job.

Taylor testified that upon his return to the apartment from the Pierce County Courthouse, he looked for his wife because he did not understand what she was doing. He found no one in the apartment except possibly his son. Then he heard someone knocking at the front door. When he opened the door, he saw the policeman. He knew something was wrong because he (Taylor) had blood on his hands.

Taylor had been evaluated in April of 1987 by a psychologist in connection with Taylor's application for social security disability benefits. The "diagnostic impressions" of the psychologist were "borderline intellectual functioning, schizophrenia, paranoid, chronic." He also described Taylor as being "manipulative, self-serving and capricious," as capable of sudden mood changes, and as being an individual who had "little in the way of incentive or ambition" and showed "no evidence of hallucinations, illusions, notions of grandiosity, ideas of reference or influence, thought broadcasting, flights of ideas, thought blocking, mania/hypomania, depersonalization, derealization, a poverty of emotion or bizarre ideation."

Taylor was counseled in 1987 and 1988 at the Satilla Community Mental Health Clinic. Two of his counselors (neither of whom were psychologists--both had master's degrees in theology) testified at trial that, based on Taylor's self-reported auditory hallucinations, they initially diagnosed him as being paranoid schizophrenic. They counseled with the defendant about his drug, alcohol and gambling problems, and his inability to obtain work. One of the counselors testified that Taylor was a "spoiled brat" determined to "get his way."

A psychiatrist connected with the clinic testified that she saw the defendant in February of 1989 (after the crime occurred), and diagnosed "cocaine abuse, alcohol abuse, borderline intellectual functioning, schizoid personality and paranoid personality." She did not diagnose paranoid schizophrenia, noting that cocaine abuse could "mimic" that disorder. She acknowledged that before the defendant's arrest she had signed an "adjudication letter" containing a diagnosis of "malingering and substance abuse" and a report that Taylor attempted to use "mental illness to keep from facing responsibility when he gets into trouble."

A clinical forensic psychologist was retained with court-provided funds to evaluate the defendant after his arrest. He interviewed the defendant at jail and reviewed his medical history. He concluded that Taylor "suffers from a paranoid schizophrenic disorder." In his opinion, Taylor was not malingering. He was, however, unable to administer a battery of written psychological tests because Taylor refused to take them. He testified that Taylor ordinarily was capable of differentiating right from wrong, but that in connection with his wife he "would have severe limits in his ability to differentiate right and wrong."

The senior forensic psychologist for the Georgia Regional Hospital in Savannah evaluated Taylor. He testified for the state that in his opinion the defendant did not suffer from any serious mental disorder. In addition, the physician assigned to the jail testified that he had treated Taylor for physical ailments on several occasions at the jail and did not observe Taylor behaving in an unusual manner.

(a) The defendant objected to the testimony of the state's "psychologist" from the Georgia Regional Hospital in Savannah. His objections were that the witness held a Ph.D. degree in counseling, rather than psychology, that he was not an expert clinical psychologist, and was not qualified to render an expert opinion about the defendant's mental condition.

The witness testified that he held a bachelor's degree in psychology, a master's degree in rehabilitation counseling and a Ph.D. degree in counseling with emphasis in corrections and correctional counseling. His master's degree coursework consisted of approximately one third counseling courses, one third psychology courses and one third electives. His doctorate coursework was equally divided between psychology and counseling coursework with no electives. He has post-degree training in forensic evaluations, is employed as a senior forensic psychologist by the state, and belongs to the American Psychological Association, the Georgia Psychological Association, the Coastal Association of Psychologists, and the American College of Forensic Psychology. He has conducted over 300 psychological evaluations for superior courts in this state, and has been declared an expert witness in the field of forensic psychology in both state and federal courts.

This court has held that

the trial judge has a discretion in accepting or rejecting the qualifications of the expert, and his judgment in that respect will not be disturbed on appeal unless abused.... "To qualify as an expert ... generally all that is required is that a person must have been educated in a particular skill or profession: his special knowledge may be derived from experience as well as study. [Cits.] Formal education in the subject at hand is not a prerequisite for expert status." Bowden v. State, 239 Ga. 821, 826 (3) (238 SE2d 905) (1977) (cert. den. 435 U.S. 937 [98 S.Ct. 1513, 55 L.Ed.2d 533] ) (1978); [cits.] [ Brown v. State, 245 Ga. 588, 589-90 (1) (266 SE2d 198) (1980).] The trial court did not err by overruling the defendant's objection to the expertise of this witness, or by allowing the witness to testify as an expert witness in the field of forensic psychology.

(b) The defendant claims a violation of OCGA § 17-7-130.1, which provides, in part:

When notice of an insanity defense is filed, the court shall appoint at least one psychiatrist or licensed psychologist to examine the defendant and to testify at trial. This testimony shall follow the presentation of the evidence for the prosecution and for the defense, including testimony of any medical experts employed by the state or by the defense. The medical witnesses...