United States v. Lutz

• Decision Date: 16 January 1970
• Docket Number: No. 17842.,17842.
• Citation: 420 F.2d 414
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America v. Thomas M. LUTZ and Howard E. Olsen, III, Thomas M. Lutz, Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit

420 F.2d 414 (1970)

UNITED STATES of America v. Thomas M. LUTZ and Howard E. Olsen, III, Thomas M. Lutz, Appellant.

No. 17842.

United States Court of Appeals Third Circuit.

Argued December 15, 1969.

Decided January 16, 1970.

Stanford Shmukler, Philadelphia, Pa., for appellant.

Charles B. Burr, II, Asst. U. S. Atty., Philadelphia, Pa. (Louis C. Bechtle, U. S. Atty., Philadelphia, Pa., on the brief), for appellee.

Before McLAUGHLIN, FREEDMAN and ADAMS, Circuit Judges.

OPINION OF THE COURT

PER CURIAM.

The defendant, Thomas Lutz, was convicted for violation of the Federal Kidnapping Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1201(a). He and his co-defendant, Olsen, kidnapped a seventeen year old girl in Reading, Pennsylvania, and transported her to New York against her will. Lutz raped her twice in the course of the trip.

Olsen pleaded guilty and was sentenced. Lutz pleaded not guilty. At Lutz's first trial, a jury was waived, but a mistrial was declared when the United States Supreme Court decided in United States v. Jackson, 390 U.S. 570, 88 S.Ct. 1209, 20 L.Ed.2d 138 (1968) that the death penalty provision of the Federal Kidnapping Act is unconstitutional because of its coercive effect on the exercise of the right to trial by jury.

The primary question on this appeal is whether the prosecution proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Lutz was sane at the time of the offense. Although a defendant is ordinarily presumed sane, once his sanity is in issue the prosecution has the burden of proof on this point. United States v. Currens, 290 F.2d 751, 761 (3d Cir. 1961) relying on Davis v. United States, 160 U.S. 469, 16 S.Ct. 353, 40 L.Ed. 499 (1895). Neither party questions the applicability of this rule to the present case.

A pre-trial examination of Lutz by a psychiatrist resulted in his commitment to the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners at Springfield, Missouri. On the recommendation of physicians at that institution, he was transferred pursuant to court order to Wernersville State Hospital. After several months the Superintendent at Wernersville returned Lutz to jail to await trial because, under the influence of alcohol, he caused a disturbance there.

The prosecution did not offer expert testimony, and accordingly there is a question whether the evidence presented by the lay witnesses was adequate to sustain the government's burden. The prosecution's witnesses on this point included the victim of the crime, the co-defendant, and the arresting officer. Each testified that there had been nothing unusual or disturbed about Lutz's behavior. The defense offered the testimony of a psychiatrist who testified that Lutz was suffering from a mental illness, a disorder called schizoid personality. Various medical, psychological and psychiatric reports relating to Lutz were also introduced into evidence. Lutz concedes that the testimony of lay witnesses may be sufficient to sustain the government's burden and may outweigh expert opinions. Mims v. United States, 375 F. 2d 135 (5th Cir. 1967); King v. United States, 125 U.S.App.D.C. 318, 372 F.2d 383 (1967); Dusky v. United States, 295 F.2d 743 (8th Cir. 1961). However, he argues that the testimony of these government witnesses could not support a finding of sanity. Since the jury must decide if the defendant is legally responsible, expert testimony on the issue of sanity is not conclusive even where it is uncontradicted. Although the...