157 Ga. App. 650 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1981
Defendant was indicted for burglary. Prior to trial and upon motion for psychiatric treatment and evaluation it was determined that he was suffering from a mental disorder of long standing. Whereupon a plea of mental incompetency to stand trial (special plea of insanity) under Code Ann. § 27-1502 (Ga. L. 1977, pp. 1293,1296) was made and heard by the court, the defendant having waived trial by a special jury. The special plea was sustained and the defendant was transferred to Central State Hospital there to remain until discharged in the manner prescribed by law.
Upon his return to the custody of the court for disposition of the charges against him he was tried, convicted and sentenced to serve a term of 15 years. Defendant has filed a motion for new trial based upon the general grounds which was denied after a hearing. Defendant appeals. Held:
The sole enumeration of error is that the trial court erred in
In the case sub judice the trial court, without the intervention of the jury, a trial by a special jury having been waived by the defendant, found that the defendant was mentally incompetent under Code Ann. § 27-1502, supra, that is, his special plea of insanity was sustained. He was then returned by Central State Hospital after being given a diagnosis of schizophrenic paranoid type, that his mental condition had stabilized and he was now aware of his legal situation and he could communicate in a rational manner to aid in his defense; that in the opinion of the medical director he was competent to stand trial. However, the same doctor was called as a witness for the defense who testified as a medical expert in psychiatry as to the mental illness with which the defendant was suffering, with a diagnosis of paranoia schizophrenia; but that he was now competent to stand trial although he had not been competent when he first examined him. He further testified that in his opinion the defendant “was unable to distinguish between right and wrong when the offense was committed,” that is, this was a strong probability ascertained by him during his treatment.
Another medical expert witness was called for the defense who had examined the defendant shortly after the crime whose diagnosis was the same and that he was not competent to stand trial and that he was such a dangerous patient that he would not permit him to be a patient in his regional. hospital after evaluation. However, he expressed no expert opinion as to his condition at the time the crime was committed. The state lay witnesses also testified as to his mental condition when he was arrested at the scene of the crime. No one. expressed an opinion that he was in any way sane. Thus if we follow
Judgment affirmed.