48 Mass. 500 | Mass. | 1844
In order to constitute a crime, a person mus* have intelligence and capacity enough to have a criminal inten. and purpose; and if his reason and mental powers are either so deficient that he has no will, no conscience or controlling mental power, dr if, through the overwhelming violence of mental disease, his intellectual power is for the time obliterated, he is not a responsible moral agent, and is not punishable for criminal acts.
But these are extremes easily distinguished, and not to be mistaken. The difficulty lies between these extremes, in the cases of partial insanity, where the mind may be clouded and weakened, but not incapable of remembering, reasoning and judging, or so perverted by insane delusion, as to act under false impressions and influences. In these cases, the rule of law, as we understand it, is this : A man is not to be excused from respon sibility, if he has capacity and reason sufficient to enable him to
On the contrary, although he may be laboring under partial insanity, if he still understands the nature and character of his act, and its consequences ; if he has a knowledge that it is wrong and criminal, and'a mental power sufficient to apply that knowledge to his own case, and to know that, if he does the act, he will do wrong and receive punishment; such partial insanity is not sufficient to exempt him. from responsibility for criminal acts.
If then it is proved, to the satisfaction of the jury, that the mind of the accused was in a diseased and unsound state, the question will be, whether the disease existed to so high a degree, that for the time being it overwhelmed the reason, conscience, and judgment, and whether the prisoner, in committing the homicide, acted from an irresistible and uncontrollable impulse: If so, then the act was not the act of a voluntary agent, but the involuntary act of the body, without the concurrence of a mind directing it.
The character of the mental disease, relied upon to excuse the accused in this case, is partial insanity, consisting of melancholy, accompanied by delusion. The conduct may be in many re- < spects regular, the mind acute, and the .conduct apparently governed by rules of propriety, and at the same time there may be insane delusion, by which the mind is perverted. The most common of these cases is that of monomania, when the mind broods over one idea and cannot be reasoned out of it. This may operate as an excuse for a criminal act in one of two modes.
The questions, then, in the present case, will. be these: 1. Was there such a delusion and hallucination ? 2. Did the accused act under a false but sincere belief that the warden had a design to shut him up, and, under that pretext, destroy his life; and did he take this means to prevent it ? 3. Are the facts of such a character, taken in connexion with the opinions of the professional witnesses, as to induce the jury to believe that the accused had been laboring for several days under monomania, attended with delusion; and did this indicate such a diseased state of the mind, that the act of killing the warden was to be considered as an outbreak or paroxysm of disease, which for the time being overwhelmed and superseded reason and judgment, so that the accused was not an accountable agent ?
If such was the case, the accused is entitled to an acquittal
The ordinary presumption is, that a person is of sound mind, until the contrary appears; and in order to shield one from criminal responsibility, the presumption must be rebutted by proof 01 the contrary, satisfactory to the jury. Such proof may arise, either out of the evidence offered by the prosecutor to establish the case against the accused, or from distinct evidence, offered on his part; in either case, it must be sufficient to establish the fact of insanity ; otherwise, the presumption will stand.
The opinions of professional men on a question of this description are competent evidence, and in many cases are entitled to great consideration and respect. The rule of law, on which this proof of the opinion of witnesses, who know nothing of the actual facts of the case, is founded, is not peculiar to medical testimony, but is a general rule, applicable to all cases, where the question is one depending on skill and science in any particular department. In general, it is the opinion of the jury which is to govern, and this is to be formed upon the proof of facts laid before them. But some questions lie beyond the scope of the observation and experience of men in general, but are quite within the observation and experience of those whose peculiar pursuits and profession have brought that class of facts frequently and habitually under their consideration. Shipmasters and seamen have peculiar means of acquiring knowledge and experience in whatever relates to seamanship and nautical skill. When, therefore, a question arises in a court of justice upon that subject, and certain facts are proved by other witnesses, a shipmaster may be asked his opinion as to the character of such facts. The same is true in regard to any question of science; because persons con versant with such science have peculiar means, from a larger;and more exact observation, and long experience in such department of science, of drawing correct inferences from certain facts, either observed by themselves or testified to by other witnesses. A familiar instance of the application of this principle occurs very
One caution, in regard to this point, it is proper to give. Even where the medical or other professional witnesses have attended the whole trial, and heard the testimony of the other witnesses, as to the facts and circumstances of the case, they are not to judge of the credit of the witnesses, or of the truth of the facts testified by others. It is for the jury to decide whether such facts are satisfactorily proved. And the proper question to be put to the professional witnesses is this : If the symptoms and indications testified to by other witnesses are proved, and if the jury are satisfied of the truth of them, whether, in their opinion, the party was insane, and what was the nature and character of that insanity ; what state of mind did they indicate
The jury, after being in consultation several hours, came into court, and asked instructions upon these two questions; “ Must the jury be satisfied, beyond a doubt, of the insanity of the prisoner, to entitle him to an acquittal ? And what degree of insanity will amount to a justification of the offence ? ”
In answer to the first of these questions, the chief justice repeated his former remarks on the same point, and added that if the preponderance of the evidence was in favor of the insanity of the prisoner, the jury would be authorized to find him insane. In answer to the second question, the chief justice added nothing to the instructions which he had previously given.
The jury afterwards returned a verdict of “ not guilty, by reason of insanity.”
S. D. Parker, for the Commonwealth.
G. T. Bigelow & G. Bemis, for the defendant.
See opinion of the judges given to the House of Lords, 1 Car. &. Kirw. 130-136. Shelford on Lunatics, c. 12, § 1. Dew v. Clark, 3 Addams, 79. Regina v Oxford, 9 Car & P. 525. Rex v. Offord, 5 Car. & P. 168. Regina v. Higginson, 1 Car. & Kirw. 129. 1 Russell on Crimes, c. 1.
The foregoing statement of the points adjudged in this case is taken from a report of the trial, prepared and published by Messrs. Bigelow & Bemis, who were assigned by the court as counsel for the defendant. In that report, all the testimony, the arguments of counsel, the decision of the court on the legal ques tions raised, and the charge to the jury, are accurately stated