Witt v. State

• Decision Date: 22 March 1995
• Docket Number: No. 94-69,94-69
• Citation: 892 P.2d 132
• Parties: Dawn Rene WITT, Appellant (Defendant), v. The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee (Plaintiff).
• Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

Page 132

892 P.2d 132

Dawn Rene WITT, Appellant (Defendant), v. The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee (Plaintiff).

No. 94-69.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

March 22, 1995.

Leonard D. Munker, State Public Defender, Deb Cornia, Appellate Counsel, and Tim Newcomb of Grant & Newcomb, Cheyenne, for appellant.

Joseph B. Meyer, Atty. Gen., Sylvia L. Hackl, Deputy Atty. Gen., D. Michael Pauling and Mary Beth Wolff, Senior Asst. Attys. Gen., Cheyenne, for appellee.

Before GOLDEN, C.J., and THOMAS, MACY, TAYLOR and LEHMAN, JJ.

GOLDEN, Chief Justice.

Dawn Witt (Witt), who alleged she was a battered woman and acted in self-defense when she shot and killed her boyfriend, appeals her voluntary manslaughter conviction. Concerning the battered woman syndrome, she contends the district court erred by excluding expert testimony on her state of mind at the time of the shooting and failed to properly instruct the jury on the syndrome. She additionally challenges certain evidentiary rulings of the district court and its failure to instruct the jury that it must disregard her statements to law officials if it deems those statements involuntary. Lastly, she challenges the failure of Justice Thomas to recuse himself from consideration of this appeal.

We find no reversible error and affirm.

ISSUES

Witt presents the following issues for our review:

I: Does the Battered Woman Syndrome defense provide an accused the right to have expert testimony as to the accused's state of mind?

II: Did the court violate the accused's federal and state rights to cross-examine a D.C.I. agent by prohibiting specific reference to the agent's interrogation manual?

III: Did the court violate Ms. Witt's federal and state rights to remain silent by submitting her statements to the jury?

IV: Did the court violate Ms. Witt's federal and state rights to remain silent by not instructing the jury to disregard her statements if they found them involuntary?

V: Did the court violate Ms. Witt's federal and state rights to due process by refusing to give Defense Instructions #'s 6, 7, 8, & 11?

VI: If Justice Thomas fails to recuse himself under Defendant's Motion to Recuse Justice Thomas for Partiality under Wyoming Code of Judicial Conduct Canon 3 E(1), does that failure violate Ms. Witt's federal and state rights to a neutral and impartial tribunal?

FACTS

Witt and her boyfriend, Mark Ayers (Ayers), lived together in Chugwater, Wyoming, for approximately two years. Testimony was presented at trial that Ayers had psychologically and physically abused Witt over the course of their relationship, and three experts testified that Witt was a battered woman.

In the early evening of May 28, 1993, Witt shot Ayers in the chest, killing him. Immediately after she shot Ayers, she called 911 for assistance. Emergency help arrived, and she was taken to her grandparents' Chugwater home, until an initial investigation could be completed. At approximately 6:30 p.m., Deputy Sisson picked up Witt from her Deputy Sisson remained with Witt at the Sheriff's Office until 10:30 p.m. Witt was advised that she could go home for the night and return in the morning, but she declined the offer. She testified she was kept in an office with the blinds drawn and was not permitted to communicate with her mother when her mother arrived at the office. Department of Criminal Investigation (DCI) Special Investigator Callaghan (Callaghan) arrived around midnight and again advised Witt they could postpone questioning until the morning. She responded that she was prepared to speak with Callaghan and did not wish to wait until morning.

grandparents' home and took her to the Platte County Sheriff's Office in Wheatland, Wyoming, for questioning. During the trip to Wheatland, Witt was advised of her Miranda rights, and in response to her question of whether she was going to jail, Deputy Sisson informed her it depended upon the investigation's outcome and upon her cooperation in the investigation.

During questioning by Callaghan, Witt related several versions of the shooting but settled upon the following version which Callaghan recorded after advising Witt of her Miranda rights. Witt explained that she and Ayers had been arguing for three days before the shooting, over an incident involving his truck. She indicated that shortly before the shooting, she had reached an agreement with him that they would stop fighting, but when her boss stopped by the house that evening, Ayers became angry again. Witt then stated:

And, anyways, my boss left and Mark and me were sort of playing around, ... and I looked out the door and there was a porcupine out there, so he told me to go get the gun from the bedroom. Well I went back there and when I was back there it just was the way he had been making me feel all day and all through the two years of the relationship we've been together. I finally had enough[.] I couldn't take anymore so I fired a shot and I think it went into the closet[.] I thought I saw the shirts move in the closet. And that was kind of to get Mark back there. I started to walk around the bed and I unloaded the chamber and put another bullet in and I fired the gun again. I did not mean to kill him, I was wanting to hurt him, to hurt him as bad as he was hurting me. Uh, it was--wasn't [sic] premeditated.

Witt was arrested and charged with second degree murder, and trial was held December 6 through 13, 1993. At the trial, she related a slightly different version of the shooting:

A. On the night of May 28, 1993, myself, and my boyfriend, Mark Ayers, had been fighting for approximately three days, an incident where I had left his truck abandoned. I had to go [to] Wheatland that afternoon, and I bought him a Teddy bear and balloon from the Posey Patch in Wheatland. I came home and had given the Teddy bear to him, and he threw it and said that I just wasn't worth his time any more.

I got real depressed, an[d] I went back in the bedroom to get the gun. I was going to kill myself, and I remember picking up the gun, and I was stabbing the trigger to see how much force it would take, and the gun went off; and I knew that it had gone into the closet because I had seen some of the shirts moving.

Then I heard Mark yelling in the living room, and I got scared. Last time that I had put a hole in the wall, and he had hit me, and I knew he would hurt me again; so I reloaded the gun.

When he came through the door, I pulled the trigger. It struck him in the chest, and I remember reloading the gun. I thought if he wasn't dead he was going to hurt me. Then I seen him laying on the floor. I dropped the gun. I went over to his side. I wasn't there but a few seconds, and then I went and called 911.

The jury returned a verdict finding Witt guilty of voluntary manslaughter, and this appeal followed. The facts relevant to specific issues will be set forth in the discussion of those issues.

DISCUSSION

1. Expert Testimony

At trial, Witt presented three experts who testified on the battered woman syndrome.

The trial testimony explaining the battered woman syndrome can be summarized as follows: A battered woman is one whose marital or live-in partner has inflicted upon her repeated and deliberate physical and psychological injury. Types of abuse can include physical abuse, humiliation, denial of power, name calling, sexual abuse, threats of violence, and deprivation of food, sleep, heat, shelter and/or money. A battered woman eventually reaches a state of "learned helplessness"; her efforts to improve the relationship or extract herself from the situation prove futile, she learns she cannot escape the relationship because of her financial status or fear of retribution, and she abandons her efforts.

In addition to the "learned helplessness," a "cycle of violence" develops in an abusive relationship. The cycle of violence consists of three stages: a tension building stage in which the battered woman attempts to appease the batterer and prevent the abuse, the violent stage in which the abuse actually occurs, and the honeymoon stage in which the batterer apologizes and pleads for forgiveness, giving the battered woman hope the abuse will end.

In addition to permitting the testimony generally explaining the battered woman syndrome, the district court permitted expert testimony upon the specific symptoms of the syndrome exhibited by Witt, and each expert provided a diagnosis of her as suffering from the syndrome at the time of the shooting. However, the district court granted the state's motion in limine and excluded expert testimony on the issue of Witt's state of mind at the time of the shooting.

In her first claim of error, Witt contends the district court erroneously interpreted WYO.STAT. § 6-1-203 (Cum.Supp.1994) and abused its discretion in excluding the expert testimony on her state of mind at the moment she shot Ayers. WYO.STAT. § 6-1-203 provides:

(a) The "battered woman syndrome" is defined as a subset under the diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder established in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders III--Revised of the American Psychiatric Association.

(b) If a person is charged with a crime involving the use of force against another, and the person raises the affirmative defense of self-defense, the person may introduce expert testimony that the person suffered from the syndrome, to establish the necessary requisite belief of an imminent danger of death or great bodily harm as an element of the affirmative defense, to justify the person's use of force.

Witt correctly observes that whether WYO.STAT. § 6-1-203 permits expert testimony on the ultimate issue of the accused's state of mind at the time of the crime's commission is a question of law. On appeal, this Court reviews questions of law de novo, and if the district court's conclusion is in accordance with law, it is affirmed. Parker Land & Cattle Co. v. Wyoming Game & Fish Comm'n, 845 P.2d 1040, 1042 (Wyo.1993).

However, in...