Thomas Queenan v. Territory of Oklahoma

• Citation: 47 L.Ed. 1175,190 U.S. 548,23 S.Ct. 762
• Decision Date: 01 June 1903
• Docket Number: No. 246,246
• Parties: THOMAS P. QUEENAN, Plff. in Err. , v. TERRITORY OF OKLAHOMA
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

190 U.S. 548

23 S.Ct. 762

47 L.Ed. 1175

THOMAS P. QUEENAN, Plff. in Err.,

v TERRITORY OF OKLAHOMA.

No. 246.

Argued April 16, 17, 1903.

Decided June 1, 1903.

Messrs. Stillwell H. Russell, J. W. Johnson, C. B. Ames, and H. H. Howard for plaintiff in error.

Messrs. J. C. Robberts and C. H. Woods for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice Holmes delivered the opinion of the court:

This is an indictment for murder, upon which the plaintiff in error has been found guilty, and has been sentenced to be hanged. It comes here by writ of error to the supreme court of the territory of Oklahoma, that court having decided that there was no error in the proceedings and having affirmed the judgment. 11 Okla. 261, 71 Pac. 218. The errors assigned will be taken up in the order in which they were argued.

1. The only defense was insanity. A lawyer, called as a witness for the defendant, stated that he knew the prisoner quite well; that the prisoner was his barber for some years, and that he saw him on the day before the killing. He then described the appearance and conduct of the prisoner, and said that at the time he did not notice any difference from the prisoner's usual demeanor. He then was asked if, since the killing, he had formed an opinion as to the prisoner's mental condition at that time. This opinion he was not allowed to state, and this is alleged as error. It will be seen that the witness was allowed to sum up his impressions received at the time. The court said in terms that he might state any condition that existed then or any impression that it made upon the witness's mind as to the prisoner's condition. That is all that was decided in Connecticut Mut. L. Ins. Co. v. Lathrop, 111 U. S. 612, 28 L. ed. 536, 4 Sup. Ct. Rep. 533. Some states exclude such opinions, even when formed at the time. But, as is pointed out in the case cited, it is impossible for a witness to reproduce all the minute details which he saw and heard, and most witnesses make but a meagre and halting effort. Therefore, in this as in many other instances, after stating such particulars as he can remember,—generally, only the more striking facts,—an ordinary witness is permitted to sum up the total remembered and unremembered impressions of the senses by stating the opinion which they produced. To allow less may deprive a party of important and valuable evidence that can be got at in no other way. But, on the other hand, to allow more, to let a witness who is not an expert state an opinion upon sanity which he has formed after the event, when a case has arisen and become a matter of public discussion, must be justified, if at all, on other grounds. It is unnecessary to lay down the rule that it never can be done, for instance, when the opinion clearly appears to sum up a series of impressions received at different times. Hathaway v. National L. Ins. Co. 48 Vt. 335, 350. It is enough to say that, at least, it should be done with caution and not without special reasons. In this case the only knowledge shown by the witness was the familiarity of a man with his barber. So far as the evidence went, his present opinion might have been the result of interested argument, and, leaving such suggestions on one side, no reason of necessity or propriety was shown for the statement that would not have applied to any other man who had had his hair cut in the prisoner's shop. It does not appear that there was error in the ruling of the court.

2. The next error alleged is in the following instruction of the court:

'Homicide committed by one who has not sufficient knowledge and understanding to understand right from wrong and to comprehend and understand the consequences of his act is excusable for any act in reference to which his mind is in such weakened condition. But it is not every derangement of the mind that will excuse one for the commission of crime. If one has sufficient mind and understanding to know right from wrong regarding the particular act, and is able to comprehend and understand the consequences of such act, the law recognizes him as sane, and holds him responsible for such acts; and in this connection, if you should find beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant took the life of Ella Queenan, as charged in the indictment, and that at the time of such homicide he knew and understood that it was wrong to...