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State v. Joseph12/10/2003
he rule in West Virginia at the time the circuit court ruled on the issue. We have corrected this absence by our holding today. *fn6 Since it was proper for Dr. Solomon to offer an opinion as to Mr. Joseph's mental abilities at the time of the commission of the crime charged, we must now determine whether Dr. Solomon's conclusions regarding Mr. Joseph's mental capacity were sufficient to support a claim of diminished capacity.
As discussed above, this Court in State v. Simmons, concluded that the expert testimony offered by the defendant did not meet the standard for a diminished capacity defense. In that case we related that "the defendant did not offer any psychiatric testimony to the effect that by virtue of some mental disease or defect, she was incapable of forming the specific intent required either for first-degree murder, i.e. premeditation, deliberate intent to kill, or for second-degree murder, i.e. malice aforethought." 172 W. Va. at 600, 309 S.E.2d at 99. The court went on to explain that the treating psychiatrist "was not asked whether [the defendant's] mental condition rendered her incapable of forming a specific intent to kill." Id., 309 S.E.2d at 99. Similarly, a second defense witness "was not asked as to [the defendant's] capacity to form the requisite specific intent elements." Id., 309 S.E.2d at 99.
In the case of New Jersey v. Nataluk, 316 N.J. Super. at 345-46, 720 A.2d at 406, the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, found that the defendant had offered sufficient evidence to allow the question of the defendant's diminished capacity to go to the jury where the defendant's expert testified that "in his judgment, defendant was not aware of what he was doing when he possessed the gun and fired the bullets through the window. He believed that defendant had blacked out and did not even know that he had fired the gun." The New Jersey court found this evidence, if accepted, demonstrated that the "defendant would not be guilty of the crimes charged because he would not have acted knowingly or purposefully," which were the mental elements of the crime for which the defendant had been charged. Id. at 346, 720 A.2d at 406.
The instant case is more akin to Nataluk. Dr. Solomon's testimony was addressed directly to Mr. Joseph's mental capacity at the time of his criminal offense and Dr. Solomon opined that Mr. Joseph was, due to his mental defect, unable "to formulate intent or malice or to premeditate under these circumstances." Thus, in the instant case, there plainly was sufficient evidence to allow Dr. Solomon to testify before the jury. Accordingly, the circuit court was clearly wrong in excluding this evidence and prohibiting Mr. Joseph from presenting his defense attacking the State's case in chief. *fn7 For this reason, Mr. Joseph's conviction must be overturned and this case remanded for a new trial.
IV. CONCLUSION
For the reasons stated in the body of this opinion, we find the circuit court abused its discretion in denying Mr. Joseph a new trial. Therefore, the circuit court's order denying Mr. Joseph's motion to set aside the verdict is reversed. This case is remanded for a new trial consistent with this opinion.
Reversed and remanded.
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