Commonwealth v. Snyder
Commonwealth v. Snyder
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
Six of the assignments of error have been abandoned. Of those remaining, eight have regard to rulings of the court on offers of evidence which in purpose and effect were substantially the same. In each instance the offer was to show that the defendant in the early years of his life was subject to frequent attacks of convulsions or spasms, which for the time being rendered him unconscious; that after his twelfth year the attacks became less frequent, much milder in form, never attended with unconsciousness; that he is still subject to these attacks in modified form, and that he suffered one as recently as the day before the crime was committed with which he is charged; this, to be followed by medical expert opinion predicated on the facts proposed to be shown as to the character and frequency of these attacks, that they were epileptic seizures, and further that because of this infirmity, and the added circumstance, already appearing in the evidence, that defendant had been drinking during the afternoon and evening of the occurrence, if it was he who killed Hoover, he was at the time acting under an uncontrollable epileptic impulse during which it was impossible for him’ to distinguish right from wrong, and during which it was impossible for him to deliberate or consider the nature and consequence of his act.
The twelfth and thirteenth assignments complain of the admission of evidence showing certain confessions made by the defendant to his pastor Dr. Stump and others. The evidence was objected to on the ground that the confessions were made in consequence of inducement held out by Dr. Stump. It does not appear that any of the other witnesses who testified to confessions offered any inducement whatever to defendant to admit his guilt. To some of them the admissions were made days after the interview between the defendant and Dr. Stump; but it was contended that nevertheless it was not shown that the influence of the promise or inducement extended by the latter had ceased to operate. We are unable to see the force of the objection even in its application to the testimony of Dr, Stump. While what he said may have in
The assignments fifteen and eighteen, inclusive, charge error in answers to points submitted. These points were predicated on a killing as the result of a sudden impulse or impetuous temper, and asked instructions that the guilt in such case would be less than murder in the first degree. There was nothing in the case calling for any such instructions, however correctly the law may have been expressed in the points. The defendant had denied the killing and all knowledge of it. There was no living witness, unless himself, to testify to the
The ninth and tenth assignments relate to rulings of the court on offers of evidence to show that if defendant did the killing he was at the time of the commission of the act intoxicated. Lester Kauffman, a young man who had been in defendant’s company during the afternoon and evening until within a very short time of the tragedy, having testified for the commonwealth was recalled by the defendant in turn, and it was proposed to ask him what the defendant’s condition was with respect to sobriety when he parted from him. The purpose as stated was to show defendant’s intoxicated condition to rebut presumption of deliberation and premeditation. The ruling rejecting the offer was as follows: “In the form in which the offer has been made merely to prove drunkenness, we regard it as inadmissible, and overrule the offer and seal an exception for the defendant. Drunkenness is no valid defense.” The offer being renewed it was again rejected under the following ruling: “We understand this to be simply an offer to show that the defendant was under the influence of liquor and without any information in it as to what the degree of his intoxication may have been, and with no offer to show by this or any other witness that he was so much intoxicated that his mind was incapable to form a deliberate intent or premeditate a design to kill and carry it out. In the form in which the offer is made we reject it.” These rulings were correct. Mere intoxication does not imply loss of power to form specific intent; and therefore the evidence here offered was irrelevant. Intoxication is a matter of degree; it may be so mild as to disturb normal mental action but slightly; again, it may be so deep that the subject is almost, if not entirely, without consciousness. Between these two extremes there are
We think the question asked of the defendant when recalled to the stand as to the amount of liquor he had drunk during the evening of the occurrence, was not objectionable, unless on the ground that it led to unnecessary repetition, and should therefore have been allowed. But the defendant could not have been prejudiced by its disallowance. He had already testified, as had several of his witnesses) as to the number of drinks he had taken; and he'himself had testified fully as to the extent of his intoxication. The answer to the question would therefore have elicited no fact not already appearing in evidence; but would have been merely supplemental to those already adduced and not contradicted. The remaining assignments suggest nothing that calls for discussion.
A review of the whole record leaves us convinced that the case stands clear of error; that the defendant had a fair trial in all respects, with every right accorded him that he was entitled to and that the jury was adequately and correctly instructed as to the law governing the case. The record exhibits nothing that calls for our interference with the result reached.
The judgment is affirmed; and it is ordered that the record be remitted to the court below that the judgment may be carried into execution according to law.
Reference
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- Criminal law — Murder—Insanity—Epilepsy. 1. On the trial of an indictment for murder a mere offer to prove that the prisoner prior to the killing had been subject to attacks of epilepsy is properly overruled where there is no evidence produced or offered to show that the prisoner was in fact insane. The law derives no immediate presumption of insanity from the fact of epilepsy, but leaves the insanity to be proved as any other defense not by secondary evidence as proof of epilepsy would be, but by evidence establishing the direct fact; nor is evidence of epilepsy admissible even when the offer is accompanied by an offer to prove intoxication. 2, It may be a physiological fact that one effect of epilepsy is to produce a state of mind easily excited by provocation, and that this state of mind is intensified by intoxication to a degree that would be unexpected in one not epileptic from the same amount of drink; but except as the epilepsy can be shown to have resulted in an unsoundness, which by itself would excuse an act, it cannot become a factor in determining the question of guilt or innocence. The epileptic who is not shown to be insane, can no more escape liability for his acts done while intoxicated, than can one not so affected. Criminal law — Confessions—Murder. 3. On the trial of an indictment for murder the prisoner's pastor accompanied by the officer who made the arrest visited the prisoner, and the clergyman said to the prisoner that it would be better for him to tell the truth, adding that he, the speaker, could do more for him if he told the truth. Before the defendant had an opportunity to express himself at all, the officer interfered with the remark, “Reverend, as a detective, I wish you would not make a remark of that kind. I may be a witness against him, and I can offer him no promise of any kind, and I hope you don't mention that again.” It was after being thus cautioned that the defendant made a confession. Held, that the confession was admissible in evidence. Criminal law — Murder—Points for charge. 4. On the trial of an indictment for murder, points predicated on a killing as the result of a sudden impulse or impetuous temper, are properly refused where there is no evidence whatever that the killing was the result of sudden impulse. Criminal law — Murder—Intoxication. 5. On the trial of an indictment for murder an offer to show that the prisoner was under the influence of liquor at the time of the killing, is properly overruled where there is no offer to show the degree of intoxication, or that the prisoner was so much intoxicated that his mind was incapable of forming a deliberate intent or premeditated design to kill and carry it out. 6. Where the prisoner and several of his witnesses have testified to the number of drinks he had taken, and he himself had testified fully as to the extent of his intoxication, it is not reversible error to ask the prisoner when recalled to the stand as to the amount of liquor he had drunk during the evening of the occurrence.