State v. PastetState v. Pastet
On May 3, 1962, the defendant was indicted on a charge of murder in the first degree in perpetrating a robbery. After a trial the jury returned a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree without recommending a sentence of life imprisonment which they were empowered to do under the law applicable at the time of trial,
While awaiting execution of the sentence, the defendant was declared insane by the Superior Court in Tolland County
(Barber, J.)
under
Thereafter, on June 29, 1972, the United States Supreme Court decided
Furman
v.
Georgia,
On September 15, 1972, the defendant filed a motion in this court to “reopen” the judgment in this case, “insofar as the imposition of the death penalty is concerned” and moved that the case be subsequently remanded to Superior Court for further proceedings. This court dismissed the
Thereafter, upon a motion of the defendant, the Superior Court ordered a psychiatric examination of the defendant to inquire into his “mental status” prior to resentencing proceedings. Counsel for the defendant and the state agreed upon the selection of a single psychiatrist of the court’s choosing to conduct this examination. Dr. Jay Katz, the psychiatrist so appointed by the court, interviewed the defendant after talking to and receiving materials from counsel for both the defendant and the state, filed his report with the court, and subsequently testified at the sentencing hearing. Dr. Katz diagnosed the defendant as having “a personality disorder with passive aggressive tendencies and paranoid trends showing also evidence of immaturity.” Nevertheless, he considered the defendant’s testimony as set forth in the transcript of the hearing held on the habeas corpus petition on June 13, 1972, to be inconsistent with the finding of insanity made in 1965 pursuant to
At the sentencing hearing, Dr. Joyce Millette, another psychiatrist, was called as a witness by the defendant. At the time of the proceedings she was employed by the State Department of Mental Health
On July 19, 1973, a little over a month before the sentencing proceedings, the defendant was returned to the Security Treatment Center following a series of incidents at the Correctional Institution during which he destroyed personal property in his cell and tried to injure himself. Before being transferred, however, he was examined by Dr. Jacob Van der Werff, a consulting psychiatrist at Somers for eleven years, who diagnosed the defendant at this time as “suffering from a personality disorder but as non-psyehotic.”
Both Drs. Millette and Katz submitted additional opinions to the court concerning the defendant’s condition. Dr. Millette indicated that after sentence was imposed, the Security Treatment Center would be a “better place” for him than the Correctional Institution at Somers. In Dr. Katz’s opinion, if the sentence to be imposed allowed release in a reasonable period of time, “then perhaps the defendant should be returned to a hospital for the express purpose of further rehabilitation but that it should be made quite clear to the defendant that this was not done because the court considered him to be insane.”
After these proceedings, the Superior Court (Saden, J.) sentenced the defendant to life imprisonment from which judgment the defendant has appealed.
I
The defendant claims that the court lacked the authority, statutory or otherwise, to sentence him to life imprisonment, so that in imposing this sentence the court violated his rights under the due process clauses of the state
3
and federal
4
constitutions
5
and the separation of powers provision of the state constitution.
6
The essence of his claim is that under
We stated on another occasion that the purpose of an identical provision in the statutory predecessor of
It would have been futile for the trial court to convene a jury for the purpose of “recommending” the only punishment which the court remained authorized under § 53-10 to impose on the defendant after
Furman
upon a conviction of first degree murder. Ibid. Although the principle is well established that penal statutes must be strictly construed, the application of common sense to the language
In addition, while § 53-10 was repealed by the legislature by Public Acts 1969, No. 828, § 214, offenses committed prior to the effective date of the repealing statute were still punishable under the prior provision. Thus, the saving provision in chapter 1 of our General Statutes states that “[t]he repeal of an act shall not affect any punishment, penalty or forfeiture incurred before the repeal takes effect, . . . for an offense committed, or for the recovery of a penalty or forfeiture incurred under the act repealed.”
II
Error is also assigned in the court’s conclusion that the defendant was “judicially sane” when he was resentenced and the court imposed life imprisonment. Specifically, the defendant claims that the court was precluded from finding him sane for purposes of being resentenced by the earlier declaration of the Superior Court for Tolland County that he was insane for purposes of exemption from execution, a declaration which had not thereafter been formally modified pursuant to § 54-101. To begin with, the effect of the order of the Superior Court for Tolland County in 1965 issued pursuant to § 54-101 was, as the statute states, merely to stay the execution of the defendant’s then sentence of death; the order had no impact on the trial court’s jurisdiction over the case for other purposes. See
Fine
v.
Commonwealth,
Nonetheless, the earlier determination that the defendant was “insane” under § 54-101 has remained formally undisturbed throughout this case. Thus, the central question raised by the defendant is whether, as applied to this case, the kind of “insanity” which immunizes a person from execution under a statute such as § 54-101 is the same as that which also immunizes him from imposition of sentence. Under Connecticut law, a criminal prosecution may not proceed against a person whom a court determines to be “so insane or mentally defective that he is unable to understand the proceedings against him or to assist in his own defense.”
Of the objectives sought to be achieved by a determination of a person’s sanity for purposes of standing trial, historically the foremost has been said to be the protection of the accuracy of the adjudication involved; the competency rule, that is, is claimed to have been designed to ensure that the defendant is able to provide his counsel with the data necessary or relevant to the structuring of a defense. See, e.g.,
Dusky
v.
United States,
But it has been pointed out that the competency rule is also meant to safeguard other values vital
When determining the legality of executing a person after sentence of death has been imposed, different information is required from that necessary upon an inquiry into his competency to be tried, convicted and sentenced. For example, some author
Accordingly, the primary task before the trial court in this case during the hearing conducted prior to its imposition of the sentence of life imprisonment was to determine whether the defendant was able to understand the nature of the sentencing proceedings, i.e., why he was being punished and the nature of his punishment.
8
It was under no obligation to consider itself bound by the earlier
There is no error.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
Notes
“[General Statutes] See. 53-10. first degree murder, other HOMICIDES; DEATH PENALTY OR LIFE IMPRISONMENT. Any person who commits murder in the first degree, or who causes the death of another by wilfully placing any obstruction upon any railroad or by loosening, taking up or removing any part of the superstructure of such railroad or by wilfully burning any building or vessel, shall suffer death unless the jury, by its verdict and as a part thereof, upon and after a consideration of all the evidence, recommends imprisonment in the State Prison for life, in which case the sentence of the court shall be imprisonment for life without benefit of release as provided in sections 18-7, 18-26 and 54-125, provided, if the person accused elects to be tried by the court and is found guilty or if such person is convicted by confession, the court may, in its discretion, imprison such person in the State Prison for life without the benefit of release as provided in sections 18-7, 18-26 and 54-125.”
This statute has since been repealed. Public Acts 1969, No. 828, §214.
An amendment to § 53-10, viz., Publie Acts 1963, No. 588, had not been enacted at the time of trial and did not apply retroactively to the defendant’s case.
State
v.
Pastet,
Ga. Code $$ 26-1005, 26-1302 (Sup. 1971); Tex. Penal Code art. 1189 (1961).
Constitution of Connecticut, art. first, J 8: “No person shall be . . . deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law . . .
United States Constitution, amend. XIV, 5 1: “[N]or shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law . . . .”
We have held that the due process clauses of both constitutions have the same meaning.
Katz
v.
Brandon,
Constitution of Connecticut, art. second: “The powers of government shall be divided into three distinct departments, and each of them confided to a separate magistracy, to wit, those which are legislative, to one; those which are executive, to another; and those which are judicial, to another.”
However,
Since the court had no alternative but to impose sentence of life imprisonment pursuant to the provisions of