U.S. v. Ming Sen Shiue, 80-2064
| Decision Date | 05 June 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. 80-2064,80-2064 |
| Citation | 650 F.2d 919 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. MING SEN SHIUE, Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Meshbesher, Singer & Spence, Ltd., Ronald I. Meshbesher, Carol Grant, Minneapolis, Minn., for appellant.
Thomas K. Berg, U. S. Atty., Thorwald H. Anderson, Jr., Asst. U. S. Atty., Minneapolis, Minn., Elizabeth De La Vega, Ellen McVeigh, Legal Interns, for appellee.
Before LAY, Chief Judge, STEPHENSON and ARNOLD, Circuit Judges.
Ming Sen Shiue appeals his conviction for the kidnapping and interstate transportation of Mary Stauffer and her eight year old daughter, Beth. Shiue was charged under 18 U.S.C. § 1201. In this appeal Shiue claims that comments made during the trial by the district court 1 and the prosecution prevented him from having a fair trial. The defendant also attacks the sufficiency of the evidence relating to his insanity defense. We disagree with the claims raised by Shiue and affirm the conviction.
There is little, if any, factual disagreement in this case. The defendant's sole defense was insanity.
For purposes of background, the basic facts are as follows. 2 On May 16, 1980, the defendant, brandishing a handgun, abducted Mrs. Stauffer and Beth from a parking lot. After directing Mrs. Stauffer to drive to a secluded spot, Shiue bound and gagged the two and put them in the trunk of the Stauffer automobile. He later transferred them to a van and drove to his residence in Roseville, Minnesota. Shiue put them in a closet which Mrs. Stauffer testified "seemed to be prepared for us." The closet was empty except for an old rug, two pillows and a blanket.
The following night Shiue began a routine which was to be repeated many times during the seven weeks that Mrs. Stauffer and Beth were held captive. The defendant took Mrs. Stauffer, blindfolded, to the living room and tied her to a leg of a couch. He began a wide-ranging discussion which lasted three hours. Eventually Shiue revealed that he had been a student in Mrs. Stauffer's ninth grade math class fifteen years earlier at Alexander Ramsey High School in Roseville. Shiue told Mrs. Stauffer that he wanted revenge for the grade she had given him a decade and a half earlier. He said he wanted to "unburden his hatred" for her. Shiue also revealed that he resented her because she had not encouraged him when he had told her about a mathematic formula he had developed. 3
Shiue led Mrs. Stauffer through a discussion of her personal history and tried to get her to recall him. The defendant described what he planned to do in order to "debase" Mrs. Stauffer as he had been fifteen years earlier. He claimed that the grade from her class had prevented him from getting a college scholarship, which prevented him from getting a student deferment and led to his induction into the army. He claimed he was later incarcerated in a P.O.W. camp in Viet Nam and that following his return he had been unable to find a good job. In fact, Shiue had gone to college, had never served in the army or been a P.O.W. and operated his own successful electronics repair business.
During this discussion, Mrs. Stauffer attempted to reason with the defendant. Mrs. Stauffer, who, along with her husband, is a Baptist missionary, discussed Christian morality with respect to the defendant's conduct. Shiue was unmoved. Following this lengthy dialogue, the defendant raped Mrs. Stauffer repeatedly.
Shiue video taped the discussion between Mrs. Stauffer and himself, as well as the rape sessions. Many of the other rape sessions, which were to continue during the entire seven weeks, were also video taped. The tapes of the first night, except for the rape scenes, were shown to the jury. 4 See In re Application of KSTP Television, 504 F.Supp. 360, 361 (D.Minn.1980).
The tapes recorded several comments by the defendant concerning his own state of mind. Discussing why he would rape Mrs. Stauffer, the defendant said, Just prior to the first rape, Shiue said, " * * * I know, I know, it's an evil thing, isn't it?"
Shiue established a routine that was followed for most of the kidnapping. Mrs. Stauffer and Beth were allowed to eat and to go to the bathroom, but otherwise they were bound and confined in the closet. Shiue left for work each day. Mrs. Stauffer and Beth attempted to get help several times but were unsuccessful. The rape sessions were repeated on many of the nights. Shiue threatened to harm Beth if Mrs. Stauffer failed to cooperate. On one occasion he partially carried out his threat by placing a plastic bag over Beth's head, nearly suffocating her. He did not remove the bag until Mrs. Stauffer indicated she would submit.
Mrs. Stauffer was allowed to write three letters during the seven-week period, two to her husband and one to her parents. Shiue guided the composition of the letters and attempted to portray the Stauffers' disappearance as voluntary. He wore gloves while handling the letters and carefully examined them to assure himself that Mrs. Stauffer had not used some kind of "secret code," and, although Shiue allowed Mrs. Stauffer and Beth to contact their family, he never sought a ransom.
During the seven weeks, Shiue carried on a normal life when he left the Stauffers tied up in his closet. He dealt with others in a rational manner and operated his business as he normally would without giving a sign of the bizarre crime he was committing.
On about June 7, Shiue used a rented motor home to take his two prisoners to a job fair in Chicago. The defendant told the Stauffers he knew he was taking a risk by going to Chicago because it made the crime a federal offense and could add five years to his prison sentence if he was caught. While Shiue attended the job fair, Mrs. Stauffer and Beth were chained to a gas line inside the motor home. They returned to Minneapolis about June 14.
After the trip to Chicago, the defendant began the routine again. The Stauffers were kept in the closet most of the time but were allowed to go to the kitchen to prepare meals. The rapes also resumed.
On July 7, Shiue shackled Mrs. Stauffer and Beth to the hinge of the closet door as he had done before. After he left for work, Mrs. Stauffer discovered a way to unhook the cable. She notified police and they were rescued shortly thereafter. Shiue was arrested at his place of business the same day.
As noted, the principal issue at trial was the insanity claim. The defense presented three expert witnesses: two psychiatrists Dr. James Stephans and Dr. Robert Sadoff, and a clinical psychologist Dr. Kenneth L. Perkins. The three witnesses agreed that Shiue was insane within the guidelines of the legal test adopted by this circuit. They concluded that the defendant was a paranoid schizophrenic.
Dr. Stephans testified that Shiue was driven by the delusion that he had to find Mrs. Stauffer and that she loved him. This delusion was accompanied by auditory and visual hallucinations which commanded Shiue to find and follow Mrs. Stauffer. Dr. Stephans concluded that Shiue fit the diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia "beyond any medical certainty." Dr. Sadoff concurred with this conclusion. He testified that although Shiue may have understood that his actions were against the law, he nevertheless was "so blinded by his obsession * * * (that) he did not consider (his behavior) to be immoral because it was predestined." Dr. Perkins stated his tests showed Shiue lacked the capacity to appreciate that the kidnapping was morally wrong.
The prosecution offered two witnesses on this issue Dr. Dennis Philander, a psychiatrist, and Dr. Terry Zehlke, a psychologist. Dr. Philander testified that, although the defendant was mentally ill, he still had "full capacity to not only conform his conduct to the requirements of law, but he also had full capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct and, in fact, took very careful and very thoughtful steps to cover up his conduct." 5 Dr. Philander said that a psychotic person would be unable to carry on the very astute and logical conversation which the defendant had with Mrs. Stauffer. He pointed to Shiue's ability to plan ahead, foresee events and exercise options as evidence of Shiue's continuing contact with reality. For example, Shiue, upon noticing a police car, directed Mrs. Stauffer "to turn left" and thus evade the policeman. He also emphasized that Shiue was able to carry on his regular business activities while still accomplishing his goal of humiliating Mrs. Stauffer.
Dr. Zehlke reached a similar conclusion. He found that the defendant had a mixed personality disorder but was not a paranoid schizophrenic. Dr. Zehlke pointed to the defendant's abduction of Beth as well as Mrs. Stauffer to observe that this was inconsistent with his claimed delusions of a love relationship with Mrs. Stauffer. Dr. Zehlke found the fact that Shiue disregarded Beth's feelings and used her to threaten her mother was indicative of an antisocial personality. 6
In 1972, this circuit adopted the ALI Model Penal Code test for insanity. United States v. Frazier, 458 F.2d 911, 918 (8th Cir. 1972). See Anno., 1 A.L.R.Fed. 965 (1969). In accordance with this rule, the district court, in the instant case, instructed the jury as follows:
A defendant is insane within the meaning of these instructions if, at the time of the alleged criminal conduct, as a result of mental disease or defect he lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the moral or legal wrongfulness of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of law.
See 1 Devitt & Blackmar, Federal Jury Practice and Instructions, § 14.17, p. 416 (3d ed. 1977). 7
In order to reverse the conviction, this court must conclude that the prosecution's evidence is so...
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