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State v. Steelman9/13/1978
conduct indicated an emotional disorder, defendant contends that his conviction is a violation of the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution in that it punishes him for his "status" of being mentally ill. Steelman cites Robinson v. California, 370 U.S. 660, 82 S.Ct. 1417, 8 L.Ed.2d 758 (1962) wherein the United States Supreme Court struck down a California statute which made drug addiction a crime. Robinson was carefully limited to the specific question of a statute which made the status of being a drug addict a crime. Later in Powell v. Texas, 392 U.S. 514, 88 S.Ct. 2145, 20 L.Ed.2d 1254 (1968), a person had been convicted for public drunkenness and it was claimed that because he could not abstain from drinking or controlling his conduct once he began drinking, it was a punishment of his status as an alcoholic to convict him of public drunkenness. A plurality of the court expressed doubt that alcoholism could be classified as a disease in the same way as drug addition. However, a clear majority of the court found that the conviction under the public drunkenness statute was valid because the statute applied to conduct rather than "status" as an alcoholic.
In the instant case, the defendant is not being charged with the crime of being mentally ill. Even though Steelman's mental condition may have played a part in the crimes committed, Steelman is not being punished for being mentally ill any more than a person convicted for driving while intoxicated is being punished for being an alcoholic. The convictions are based on the acts of the accused and not on his emotional disorders. See State v. O'Donnal, 110 Ariz. 552, 521 P.2d 984 (1974). We find no error.
c. Whether M'Naghten violates defendant's rights under the Fourteenth Amendment
Defendant next questions the application of the M'Naghten rule to defendant as being in violation of his rights under the Fourteenth Amendment: the Privileges and Immunities Clause; the Due Process Clause; and the Equal Protection Clause.
As to the Privilege and Immunities Clause, the argument is that because Arizona applies the harsher rule in the M'Naghten test, people are discouraged from entering the state and their constitutional right to free travel among the states has been impinged. See Oregon v. Mitchell, 400 U.S. 112, 91 S.Ct. 260, 27 L.Ed.2d 272 (1970). We do not agree. The right to travel does not include crossing state lines in order to commit a crime. There is no violation of the Privileges and Immunities Clause in having different jurisdictions apply different rules to determine criminal responsibility.
Steelman bases his due process argument on the existence of a variety of tests applied in different state and federal jurisdictions around the country. Whenever a particular procedural protection is brought within the ambit of the Due Process Clause by the United States Supreme Court, it then becomes a uniform procedural rule to be followed in courts across the country. The United States Supreme Court has not held, however, that due process requires one rule of criminal responsibility. In Leland v. Oregon, 343 U.S. 790, 72 S.Ct. 1002, 96 L.Ed. 1302 (1952), the United States Supreme Court stated that it was not convinced that the state of medical art was such that a single rule of criminal responsibility was required for every state and federal court. Although the question of a due process standard for the sanity defense has been discussed by numerous state and federal courts and many of them have abandoned M'Naghten for what they have perceived to be a better rule, this court has decided to remain with the M'Naghten
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