190 Pa. 138 | Pa. | 1899
Opinion by
Wireback, the defendant, was convicted of murder of the first degree in the court below, and sentenced to be hanged; hence this appeal.
It appears from the evidence, that he was forty-eight years of age; was a manufacturer and vender of a patent medicine; in conducting his business, he traveled over Lancaster and the adjoining counties; his place of business, however, was in Lancaster city, where he made his home with his family, a wife and two sons. They lived in a dwelling house, the property of D. B. Landis, a reputable and prominent resident of Lancaster. On July 1, 1897, Landis, leased to him by writing the house until April 1, 1898, with the privilege of an extension for one year after the expiration of the term, if he, Landis, did not in the mean time sell the property. Landis did sell, about the last of August, 1897, and Wireback had knowledge of the fact, and also knew he must, by the contract, give up possession on April 1, following. He continued, however, to pay his monthly rental promptly, but notwithstanding the unmistak
The sixth assignment is to sustaining the objection of the
The seventh to sixteenth assignments complain, that the court erred in overruling objections to the admissibility of the opinion of witnesses called by the commonwealth. Nine witnesses were called, who testified to a personal acquaintance with defendant, to having seen him, and to having transacted business with him, some a short time before the homicide, others within three or six months of it; all stated their opportunities for observation; then, in substance, this question was put to each: “ From the conversation you had with the prisoner at the time you stated, and from your observation of his conduct, manner and appearance, did you or did you not discover anything that would lead you to believe he was of unsound mind?” Against defendant’s objection, the witness was permitted to answer. In this, there was no error. The witnesses were not asked to give their opinion affirmatively, as to whether the defendant was of sound mind, for they had stated nothing to warrant such opinion; but whether they had noticed anything in his conduct or conversation irrational or indicating insanity at the times they saw and talked with him, was clearly competent. The defendant alleged that he gave evidence of insanity for a period of eight months before the homicide; the commonwealth could answer it in no other way than by calling those who had seen and conversed with him during the same time, to testify that they had noticed nothing indicating unsoundness of mind. The defendant might well argue that this negative, when compared with his affirmative
The twentyrthird to thirty-sixth assignments, are to the refusal of the court to permit this interrogatory by defendant’s counsel to jurors when called to the box : “ Would the neglect or refusal of defendant to testify in his own behalf create any presumption against him in your mind ? ” The question was wholly unwarranted; it reflected on the integrity of the juror. He might as well have been asked whether, if sworn as a juror, he -would obey the law. No liberality of examination of jurors on their voir dire, accorded to those accused of crime, authorizes a question which in its insinuation, must be an insult to an honest man. The court properly disallowed it.
. ,The forty-second to forty-eighth assignments inclusive, are .to rulings on hypothetical questions to physicians and other witnesses. Whether the hypothesis propounded to the witness included the material facts necessary to the formation of an opinion, or whether facts are assumed, which have no existence, rests largely in the knowledge of the trial judge, and necessarily must control him in his rulings. The evidence, as before him, is seldom so clearly before us. A careful inspection of the evidence, the hypothetical questions, and the rulings connected therewith, complained of in these assignments, fails to convince us that any error was committed by the court.
The fourth, thirty-seventh,- thirty-eighth, thirty-ninth, fortieth, and forty-first assignments, all complain of errors of law in the charge and answers to points. There is probably no feature of criminal law which has been so frequently the subject of judicial consideration and opinion as that of insanity as an excuse for crime. Text-writers on medical jurisprudence and courts, are, on some phases of the subject, at variance1. The enunciation of the law in our own state, for many years a t least, has been consistent. While conceding the existence of different types of insanity, we have persistently declined to refine upon it with the specialists, and measure criminal respon sibility according to the exact degree of it. Any departure from the condition of a well balanced mind is often pronounced insanity by science. It has even been argued with plausibility by theorists, that all are insane on one or more subjects, or labor under some delusion or other. But these speculations and
In Sayres v. Commonwealth, 88 Pa. 299, the court below charged the juiy thus: “ If the prisoner, although he labors under partial insanity, hallucination or delusion, did understand the nature and character of liis acts, had a knowledge that it was wrong and criminal, and mental power sufficient to apply that knowledge to his own case, and knew if he did the act, he would do wrong and would receive punishment; if, further, he had sufficient power of memory to recollect the relation in which he stood to others, and others stood to him, that the act in question was contrary to the plain dictates of justice and right, injurious to others, and a violation of the dictates of duty, he would be responsible.” This Court, on appeal, approved this instruction, saying., “ The case was treated with marked accuracy and care by the learned judge of the court below.”
In the same ease, the court instructed the jury, that if the prisoner bona fide labored under a fixed belief that his assailant was attempting to take his life, although such belief was a delusion, and he killed him as he supposed in self-defense, he was exempt from punishment.
“ 9. If the jury believes that the reason, judgment and understanding of the defendant were overthrown at the time of the shooting, and he really did not know what he was doing, the verdict must be not guilty, on the ground of insanity. Answer : This point is affirmed, provided the jury are satisfied from a fair preponderance of the evidence that at the time of the commission of the act the defendant had not, by reason of insanity, the power or capacity to distinguish between right and wrong at that time, in reference to the act he was about to and actually did commit.”
This point and answer, in connection with the instruction in the general charge: “ That no mere moral obliquity of perception will protect a person from punishment for his deliberate act,” presented both the defendants and the commonwealth’s legal contention perspicuously. The complaint that the court erred in saying to the jury that, “ an individual who has sufficient intelligence to know that loading a pistol or gun, pointing it at a human being and pulling the trigger, are acts which may or will cause death of the person against whom they are directed, should not be acquitted on the ground of insanity,” is error, if wrested from its connection, and treated as an isolated sentence. But, to determine whether the jiiry could have been misled, it must be considered, not only with what precedes and follows, but in view of the idea then being elucidated. Counsel, as shown by their written point, contended, that, if at the time of the shooting the reason of defendant was overthrown, so that he did not know what he was doing, he should be found not guilty, on the ground of insanity, and this, irrespective of the soundness of mind immediately before and after the shooting. If Wireback was sane immediately before and immediately after the shooting, clearly the law would presume him
Defendant’s seventh prayer for instruction was that: “ The jury need not be satisfied of the insanity of the defendant beyond a reasonable doubt, and must render a verdict of not guilty on the ground of insanity if they have a reasonable doubt.” To which the court answered: “ The presumption is that at the time of committing this crime Ralph W. Wireback was sane, and the burden of proof of insanity being upon him, the defendant, he must satisfy the jury by a fair preponderance of the evidence submitted to them that at the time he committed the act, he was insane to such an extent that insanity controlled his will, and made the commission of the act he committed appear to him a duty of overruling necessity, or deprived him of all freedom of agency. If he fail to do so; if the fair preponderance of the testimony does not so satisfy the jury of such insanity, but only creates a doubt of his sanity, or reasonable doubt of his sanity, it is insufficient to justify an acquittal, and the jury should return a verdict of guilty in such case.”
More than once we have attempted to settle the question raised by the assignment of error to the answer to this point. To convict of murder of the first degree the commonwealth must prove beyond a reasonable doubt the unlawful killing and the fully formed purpose to kill; it need adduce no proof whatever of the sanity of the prisoner; the law presumes that, and the presumption is conclusive in the absence of evidence to rebute it. If the accused alleges insanity, he must establish it by fairly preponderating evidence, or the presumption of sanity which the law raises, stands unshaken: Coyle v. Commonwealth, 100 Pa. 578; Commonwealth v. Gerade, 145 Pa. 289; Commonwealth v. Woodley, 166 Pa. 463. Either the jury remain convinced of the prisoner’s sanity, by the legal presumption against him, or they are convinced of his insanity by the preponderance of evi
We have thus gone over, veiy carefully, the evidence and assignments of error, because the gravity of the judgment against defendant seemed to demand it. We are convinced he had a lawful and impartial trial, and that the evidence was amply sufficient to warrant the verdict.
As to the objection to remarks of commonwealth’s counsel to the jury, the assignment of error is irregularly preferred here, and we do not discuss it.
The judgment is affirmed, and it is ordered that the record be remitted to the court of oyer anti terminer of Lancaster county ■that the judgment may be carried into execution according to law.