Commonwealth v. Woodhouse

Dissenting Opinion by

Mr. Justice Musmanno:

Three estimable, reputable and veteran physicians gave their expert opinion that when the defendant in this case killed his sixteen-year-old adopted daughter, he was mentally irresponsible. The court, in charging the jury, said: “It must be kept in mind that an opinion is only an opinion. It creates no fact. Because of this, opinion evidence is considered of a low grade and not entitled to much weight against positive testimony of actual facts such as statements by the defendant and observations of his actions.”

I submit that this instruction was erroneous. The evidence of doctors in a case of this kind is not “low grade.” They have studied and they have been trained to analyze mental disorders. They have had many years of experience, they have seen and analyzed hundreds of cases. They are certainly in a far better position to diagnose a mental illness than a casual observer.

How can anyone doubt that the defendant was mentally ill when he brought death to a person who had done him no harm and from whose death he could ex *262 pect no gain of any kind? How can anyone donbt that the defendant was insane when he then tried to kill himself?

Beading the first three paragraphs of the Majority Opinion should be enough to convince anyone that the defendant was not in his right mind when he committed the horrible deeds therein related. The only possible explanation for his conduct is that his mind was unhinged at the time. This conclusion was substantiated by three able men, learned, experienced and wise in the ways of the mind.

Dr. Woodhouse had no possible motive to kill someone who was dear to him — a poor, helpless, sick child. The jury had the right to be assisted in the discharge of their awesome duties by listening to doctors who have dedicated their lives to determining the why and the wherefore of the inexplicable. But when the judge told the jury that the testimony of the three physicians was of “low grade,” he practically wiped it out of the case and when he did that he deprived the defendant of a fair trial.

The trial judge also erred, in my opinion, when he refused to charge the jury, as requested by defense counsel, as follows: “If the mind of the defendant was so affected by disease at the time of the act in question that he could not control his actions, he was not responsible and your verdict must be not guilty.”

What are palsy, epilepsy, convulsions and other kindred maladies but an inability of the mind to control physical actions? Certainly, if one in an epileptic seizure should strike an unoffending person, the striking would not be regarded criminal. If the mind of the defendant was so affected by disease at the time of the killing that he had no more control over his actions than an epileptic can control his equilibrium, *263 how and why should he be criminally responsible for what he does?

The refusal to charge as requested by defense counsel constitutes another reason for a new trial.

And now I am compelled, albeit most reluctantly, to say something about the brief filed by defendant’s counsel in this case. The brief is well prepared, the authorities are cited and reviewed, the argumentation is cogently presented. However, the brief is blemished by a statement which has no place in a lawyer’s argument, oral or written. After pointing out the high value which should attach to expert opinion, the brief writer says: “The law has never been ass enough to hold a contrary view.”

To refer to the law in such rustic language is not worthy of one learned in jurisprudence, veteran in the use of legal terminology, and distinguished by reputation and achievement. We know that the law does not shine in the constellation of man’s endeavors as the impeccable star of undeviating perfection. We know that, in fact, it often dims when errors throw it in eclipse. We also are aware of Mr. Bumble’s oft-quoted observation on the law * which adds no glory to jurisprudence in general. But Mr. Bumble was speaking suppositionally and it was undoubtedly his indecorous hypothesis which provoked the unseemly utterance contained in defendant’s counsel’s brief.

However, regardless of what is said about the law in jest or in serious criticism, the granitic and unbudgeable fact remains that the law has but one objective and that is the ascertainment of truth and justice. If, in its zeal to uphold that golden ideal it sometimes stumbles, it should not be ridiculed and characterized in the graceless fashion above noted.

Oliver Twist, ch. 51.