216 Conn. 139 | Conn. | 1990
The defendant, Scott Forrest, has appealed from his judgment of conviction by a jury of the crime of murder in violation of General Statutes § 53a-54a,
The murder charge against the defendant arose from his admitted shooting of Sheila Ann Kelly, his former girlfriend. In November, 1987, Kelly purportedly attempted to terminate her relationship with the defendant, who had a history of psychological problems, including a suicide attempt. Kelly nonetheless attended a Christmas party with the defendant on December 4,
The principal issue at trial was whether the defendant specifically intended to kill Kelly as alleged by the state, or rather killed Kelly while under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance as the defendant claimed in an affirmative defense pursuant to § 53a-54a. Prior to the presentation of the defendant’s case, the state filed a motion in limine requesting a ruling that the defense experts be prohibited, under § 54-86Í, from expressing “an opinion or inference as to whether the defendant was under the influence of an extreme emotional disturbance at the time of the acts alleged in the information.” After defense counsel agreed with the trial court’s statement that § 54-86Í prevented the parties from seeking an “opinion or inference as to whether the defendant was under the influence of an extreme emotional disturbance at the time of the alleged act,” the trial court granted the state’s motion in limine.
Subsequently, the defendant called an expert witness, Kenneth Selig, a psychiatrist, to testify as to his diagnosis of the defendant’s mental condition. Without objection by the state, defense counsel asked Selig if he had an opinion whether at the time of the shooting the defendant suffered “from a mental disease or defect that would rise to the level of insanity under our [pjenal [c]ode,” to which Selig answered that in his opinion the
After a voir dire of Selig, in the jury’s absence, satisfied the state that his testimony would fall within the permissible bounds of § 54-86Í, Selig testified further on direct examination that as a result of the defendant’s break-up with Kelly, “[the defendant] was devastated. His world was shattered. He was enraged, despondent, felt hopeless, felt that he couldn’t go on, felt that life wasn’t worth living without her.” Upon cross-examination of Selig, the following colloquy then took place:
“[State’s Attorney]: Okay. Doctor .... Do you think if there was a policeman in that secluded area, standing there and then [the defendant] drove in with his headlights [on] and saw the policeman there, do you think that he would have gone to the back of the car and gotten the gun and walked over to the side of the car and shot . . . Kelly?
*144 “[Defense Counsel]: Objection. Relevance.
“[State’s Attorney]: Claim it. It deals with mental state, if Your Honor please.
“[Defense Counsel]: Relevance?
“[State’s Attorney]: It deals with mental state.
“[The Court]: I’ll allow it.
“[Defense Counsel]: Exception.
“[The Court]: Exception is noted. Can you answer the question Doctor?
* * *
“[Dr. Selig]: ... I haven’t thought about it yet. I could give it some thought right now if you would like. ...
“[State’s Attorney]: No . . . Then I gather as you sit there right now, you do not have an opinion that he would have shot her even if there was a policeman standing there. Is that true?
“[Dr. Selig]: That’s correct.
“[State’s Attorney]: Let’s forget the policeman in uniform. . . . Supposing there was another couple in the car there making love or right close by, would he have drove up close by and parked his car and gone to the trunk and gotten his rifle, his loaded .22 rifle and gone to the side of the car and shot . . . Kelly through the head twice?
“[Defense Counsel]: Same objection.
“[State’s Attorney]: Claim it, if Your Honor please.
“[The Court]: I’ll allow it.
“[Defense Counsel]: Exception, please, Judge.
“[State’s Attorney]: Do you have an opinion on that, Doctor?
¡it * *
“[Dr. Selig]: I think that that would have been sufficient to have stopped him.
*145 “[State’s Attorney]: Okay. Now, Doctor . . . why did you think so long about that? . . .
“[Dr. Selig]: I think it’s an extremely important question. ... I gave a different amount of thought to that [than] I would have in a different case. And I, in order to reflect on it, part of what I needed to consider was [the defendant’s] susceptibility to structure and authority. And I think that generally with authority figures, he attempted to behave appropriately. And that given that degree of structure, it probably would have stopped him. I needed to consider those things.
* * *
“[State’s Attorney]: Now, in responding just a moment ago, I believe I heard you say that he reacts to authority figures. I think my second question said, suppose there is another couple in the car nearby. I want to ask you, do you consider another couple in a car to be authority figures?
“[Dr. Selig]: And the policeman. And I would change my answer to that.
“[State’s Attorney]: You would change your answer to the policeman?
“[Dr. Selig]: Yes, I would.
“[State’s Attorney]: All right, tell us how you would change your answer.
“[Dr. Selig]: That he, a policeman being there probably would stop him.”
It is this exchange that the defendant claims violated the proscriptions of § 54-86Í, as well as the trial court’s ruling on the state’s motion in limine. Furthermore, the defendant contends that the harm resulting from the exchange is apparent from the state’s reduction of its case down to Selig’s answers by referring the jury to Selig’s answers in closing argument and stating “[t]hat’s the whole case.”
We note first that the defendant, by objecting to the state’s questions on relevancy grounds, failed to preserve properly the issue he has raised on appeal. Practice Book § 4185 requires that appealable claims of error be distinctly raised at trial. See also Practice Book § 288; State v. Weidenhof, 205 Conn. 262, 273, 533 A.2d 545 (1987). Nor is the defendant entitled to Evans review of this issue, for the admissibility of expert opinion testimony is a matter of state evidentiary law, rather than a matter of constitutional significance. See State v. Smith, 209 Conn. 423, 426, 551 A.2d 742 (1988); State v. Vilalastra, 207 Conn. 35, 46-47, 540 A.2d 42 (1988); State v. Evans, 165 Conn. 61, 70, 327 A.2d 576 (1973). Since the defendant’s claim is not “of constitutional magnitude alleging the violation of a fundamental right”; State v. Golding, 213 Conn. 233, 239, 567 A.2d 823 (1989); one of the four preconditions to Evans review, his claim to Evans review is without merit. See id., 239-40. Because the parties have raised and briefed a single issue on appeal, and the record in this case provides an adequate basis for appellate review, we nonetheless exercise our discretion and review the defendant’s claim.
II
“ ‘The true test for the admissibility of expert testimony is “whether the witnesses offered as experts have
The defendant claims, as noted, that the state’s questions and Selig’s answers regarding the defendant’s ability to control himself in a hypothetical situation violated § 54-86Í. In support of his claim, the defendant first notes that in order to prevail on his affirmative defense of extreme emotional disturbance, the trier of fact must find: (1) the emotional disturbance is not a mental disease or defect that rises to the level of insanity as defined by the penal code; (2) the defendant was exposed to an extremely unusual and overwhelming state, that is, not mere annoyance or unhappiness; and (3) the defendant had an extreme emotional reaction to it, as a result of which there was a loss of self-control, and reason was overborne by extreme intense feeling, such as passion, anger, distress, grief, excessive agitation or other similar emo
The defendant, however, mischaracterizes the three criteria set forth in Elliott as “elements” of the affirmative defense of extreme emotional distress. Section 53a-54a describes the two elements of that defense as: (1) the defendant committed the offense under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance; and (2) there was a reasonable explanation or excuse for the defendant’s extreme emotional disturbance. When we adopted the three criteria set forth in Elliott, we did not rewrite § 53a-54a, nor did we substitute our own “elements” for those specified by the legislature. We merely interpreted the meaning of the phrase “extreme emotional disturbance,” and as we explained in Elliott, enumerated “understandable guidelines” for “instructing a jury” in determining the presence or absence of that mental condition. See State v. Elliott, supra, 8-9. These guidelines also serve to focus the presentation of evidence on three factual bases that we have deemed essential to support the inference that a defendant suffered from extreme emotional disturbance at a particular time. They are neither conclusive nor exclusive, however, for “[i]n the final analysis . . . the ultimate determination of the presence or absence of extreme emotional disturbance [is] one of fact for the trier, aided by expert testimony of both sides, but left to its own factual determinations.” State v. Zdanis, 182 Conn. 388, 395, 438 A.2d 696 (1980), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 1003, 101 S. Ct. 1715, 68 L. Ed. 2d 207 (1981).
Therefore, in the present case, § 54-86Í proscribed expert opinion testimony only with respect to whether the defendant was under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance at the time he killed Kelly. See General Statutes § 53a-54a. Since the state’s questions neither called for nor elicited Selig’s expert opinion as to whether the defendant was under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance at the time he killed Kelly, we hold that the questions and the resulting testimony did not violate § 54-86L Thus, the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it overruled the defendant’s objections to the state’s questions.
The judgment is affirmed.
In this opinion the other justices concurred.
“[General Statutes] Sec. 53a-54a. murder defined, affirmative DEFENSES. EVIDENCE OF MENTAL CONDITION. CLASSIFICATION, (a) A person is guilty of murder when, with intent to cause the death of another person, he causes the death of such person or of a third person or causes a suicide by force, duress or deception; except that in any prosecution under this subsection, it shall be an affirmative defense that the defendant committed the proscribed act or acts under the influence of extreme emotional disturbance for which there was a reasonable explanation or excuse, the
“(b) Evidence that the defendant suffered from a mental disease, mental defect or other mental abnormality is admissible, in a prosecution under subsection (a), on the question of whether the defendant acted with intent to cause the death of another person.
“(c) Murder is punishable as a class A felony in accordance with subdivision (2) of section 53a-35a unless it is a capital felony.”
“[General Statutes] Sec. 54-86Í. testimony op expert witness re MENTAL STATE OR CONDITION op defendant. No expert witness testifying with respect to the mental state or condition of a defendant in a criminal case may state an opinion or inference as to whether the defendant did or did not have the mental state or condition constituting an element of the crime charged or of a defense thereto, except that such expert witness may state his diagnosis of the mental state or condition of the defendant. The ultimate issue as to whether the defendant was criminally responsible for the crime charged is a matter for the trier of fact alone.”
The state also claims that the trial court should not have: (1) denied its motion for discovery of materials upon which the defendant’s expert based his psychiatric report; and (2) refused to permit it to call the defendant’s investigator as a rebuttal witness. Since we affirm the judgment of the trial court, we need not address these claims.
We summarily dispose of that portion of the defendant’s claim that the trial court contravened its prior ruling on the state’s motion in limine when it overruled the defendant’s objections to the state’s subsequent questions. The trial court’s ruling, as noted, merely precluded the parties from seeking direct expert opinion as to whether the defendant suffered from extreme emotional disturbance. Therefore, we do not agree with the defendant’s contention that the element of control was foreclosed from the jury’s consideration by the court’s granting of the state’s motion in limine. The question of control arose later in the trial and an examination of the record reveals that the trial court never expressly ruled inadmissible expert opinion testimony regarding the defendant’s capacity for self-control.