DAVID, Justice.
After a bench trial, the trial court rejected the defendant's insanity defense, finding that the defendant's behavior was the result of his voluntary abuse of alcohol. The Court of Appeals reversed, concluding that the defendant suffered from "settled insanity," a mental disease or defect caused by the defendant's prolonged and chronic abuse of alcohol, which rendered him unable to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct.
We affirm the trial court because there was credible expert testimony that defendant's behavior was caused by his voluntary abuse of alcohol.
John Berry is a forty-one-year-old man who suffers from alcohol dependence. Berry began abusing alcohol at the age of nine and became a daily drinker by his sophomore year of high school. He also used marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, LSD, mushrooms, and ecstasy, but he stopped using these drugs at age thirty. His drinking, however, continued.
Over the years, Berry has received rehabilitation treatment multiple times without success. He also has several convictions related to his alcohol use.
In 1999, Berry was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He has been hospitalized multiple times for a combination of symptoms related to his drug and alcohol abuse and bipolar disorder. He has been treated with mood-stabilizing, psychotropic, antianxiety, and antidepressant medications.
On Monday, February 9, 2009, Berry went with his father, John Berry III (Father), to a house Father was helping renovate. Father parked his truck in front of the house. Tony Monday was working on the bathroom ceramic tile when Berry and Father arrived.
Father greeted Monday, and Monday told Father that he had borrowed the power drill and claw hammer during the weekend
Berry went into the bathroom and told Monday that he was "going to kill" him. Monday asked Berry why, and Berry told Monday to "shut up" and repeated that he was "going to kill" him. Berry then struck Monday in the head with the claw hammer. Monday pleaded with Berry to stop, but Berry ignored him and continued to strike Monday.
During this time, Father was in the living room area with his back to the hallway leading to the bathroom. Eventually, Monday exited the bathroom into the hallway, and Father turned around to see Monday bleeding profusely from his head. Father began attending to Monday's injuries as Monday explained to Father what happened. Father called 911.
Father then saw Berry in the kitchen, walking back and forth and wiping the hammer with a towel. Father asked Berry, "Did you hit him with the f* *king hammer?" Berry responded, "I guess so."
Father told Berry to go to the garage. Berry left through the back door, walked to the front of the house, opened Father's truck, and placed the hammer and bloody towel in a chest of drawers located in the covered bed of the truck. Berry then reentered the house and told Father he could not find the garage. Father told Berry where the garage was and that Berry should stay there.
Medics and police officers arrived soon after. Father told the officers where Berry was, and they surrounded the garage. Berry initially refused to unlock the door and exit the garage, but Father was eventually able to convince Berry to come out.
Police handcuffed Berry and began to question him. They described Berry's behavior as nonchalant and very calm; noted that Berry's speech was clear; and stated that Berry offered no resistance. When asked where the hammer was, Berry told police it was in a drawer in the truck and directed them to the correct truck. When asked why he placed the hammer there, Berry responded that Father told him to do so. Finally, when asked why he hit Monday with the hammer, Berry gave nonsensical answers, including that God told him to hit Monday and that Monday was caught playing with an eagle. Berry was then taken to the hospital, admitted to a mental health center, and discharged several days later.
Monday suffered severe injuries. He underwent surgery to repair his nose, his eyes, and his broken jaw. Titanium plates were implanted into his skull, and he also lost sight in one eye. Monday can no longer use his dentures due to the damage inflicted to his jaw.
The State charged Berry with Class A felony attempted murder. Berry interposed an insanity defense. A court-appointed psychiatrist and court-appointed psychologist found Berry competent to stand trial.
Berry waived his right to a trial by jury. After hearing expert and lay testimony, the trial court found Berry guilty as charged, rejecting his insanity defense. On appeal, the Court of Appeals reversed, finding that "the circumstances of Berry's case fall squarely within the doctrine of settled insanity." Berry v. State, 950 N.E.2d 821, 835 (Ind.Ct.App.2011). We granted transfer.
The issue before this Court is not whether the State failed to establish beyond a reasonable doubt the elements of attempted murder. See Ind.Code § 35-41-4-1(a)
The burden is on the defendant to establish the defense of insanity by a preponderance of the evidence. Id. § 35-41-4-1(b). Specifically, a defendant has to prove that he could not appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct at the time of the offense due to some mental disease or defect. Id. § 35-41-3-6(a). A "mental disease or defect" is defined as "a severely abnormal mental condition that grossly and demonstrably impairs a person's perception, but the term does not include an abnormality manifested only by repeated unlawful or antisocial conduct." Id. § 35-41-3-6(b).
When temporary mental incapacity is the result of voluntary intoxication, it does not fit within the above definition of "mental disease or defect." See Jackson v. State, 273 Ind. 49, 52, 402 N.E.2d 947, 949 (1980) ("Temporary mental incapacity, when induced by voluntary intoxication, normally furnishes no legal excuse for, or defense to, a crime.").
"A determination of insanity is a question for the trier of fact." Gambill v. State, 675 N.E.2d 668, 672 (Ind.1996). Here, Berry claims that his insanity defense should have prevailed at trial; thus, he is in the position of appealing a negative judgment. See Metzler v. State, 540 N.E.2d 606, 610 (Ind.1989). A defendant in Berry's position faces a "monumental burden" because he "seeks to upset the finding of the trier of fact on appeal." Lautzenheiser v. State, 481 N.E.2d 113, 114 (Ind.1985).
The standard of review is highly deferential. A court on review does not reweigh evidence or assess witness credibility but rather considers only the evidence most favorable to the judgment and the reasonable and logical inferences drawn from that evidence. Thompson v. State, 804 N.E.2d 1146, 1149 (Ind.2004). Importantly, a court on review asks whether the inferences supporting the trial court's judgment were reasonable and not whether "more reasonable" inferences could have been made. Id. at 1150 (internal quotation marks omitted).
Furthermore, in these circumstances, an appellate court reverses a trial court's judgment "only when the evidence is without conflict and leads only to the conclusion that the defendant was insane when the crime was committed." Id. at 1149. In Galloway v. State, this Court noted that "[t]he strongest showing of an evidentiary conflict occurs where the experts disagree as to whether the defendant was insane at the time of the offense." 938 N.E.2d 699, 710 (Ind.2010). Thus, if a credible expert opines that a defendant was sane when committing an offense, despite
In this case, the trial court concluded that Berry did not meet either requirement for a successful insanity defense. Specifically, the trial court found that Berry did not suffer from a mental disease or defect and that he appreciated the wrongful nature of his conduct. The trial court's conclusions were as follows:
The Court of Appeals reversed, finding that the trial court erroneously rejected Berry's insanity defense. Berry, 950 N.E.2d at 837. On the issue of whether Berry suffered from a mental disease or defect, the Court of Appeals disagreed with the trial court's conclusions and determined that (1) there was no evidence from which a reasonable inference could be drawn that Berry was intoxicated at the time of the offense and that (2) Berry's psychotic state was a product of his "settled insanity." Id. at 832, 835.
The State argues that the Court of Appeals did not adhere to the applicable standard of review in this case. Specifically, the State claims that the Court of Appeals reweighed the evidence and assessed witness credibility. The State further argues that the Court of Appeals "sua sponte" found that Berry suffered from settled insanity even though no expert suggested that Berry suffered from such a condition.
Ultimately, we must decide the following issue: considering the evidence most favorable to the trial court's judgment, was it contrary to law for the trial court to conclude that Berry's psychotic symptoms were the result of his voluntary abuse of alcohol and not a mental disease or defect? This necessarily requires us to delve into the presented evidence and the fuzzy area of law on intoxication and insanity.
Three experts submitted reports and testified to Berry's mental status during the commission of the crime. Dr. Parker, a psychiatrist hired by the defense, was the first expert to testify at trial. He met with Berry in September 2009. In Dr. Parker's report, he noted that "Berry said he drank a fifth of hard liquor daily for many years and freely admitted that he was an alcoholic." But Dr. Parker's ultimate conclusion was that "with reasonable medical certainty" during the time of the offense Berry suffered from a mental disorder, namely bipolar disorder, and accordingly did not appreciate the wrongfulness
At trial, Dr. Parker stated, consistent with his report, that Berry met the requirements for a successful insanity defense because Berry was suffering from bipolar disorder, which had rendered him unable to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct at the time of the offense. Dr. Parker also opined that Berry was most likely sober when the incident occurred and that the psychosis was not related to alcohol use or withdrawal. He again noted that the emergency-room physician specifically stated that Berry was not suffering from delirium tremens at the time of the incident.
Dr. Olive, a court-appointed psychologist, testified after Dr. Parker. He met with Berry in May 2009. Dr. Olive's report referenced both Berry's bipolar disorder and the resulting inability to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct. Dr. Olive specifically stated as follows:
At trial, Dr. Olive testified consistent with his report, noting Berry's history of bipolar disorder and concluding that Berry could not appreciate the wrongfulness of his actions. Dr. Olive also stated that
Dr. Masbaum, a court-appointed psychiatrist, was the last expert to testify. He met with Berry in April 2009. Dr. Masbaum's conclusions from his report differed from Dr. Parker's and Dr. Olive's conclusions. Specifically, Dr. Masbaum believed that voluntary alcohol abuse was the likely cause of Berry's symptoms:
At trial, Dr. Masbaum was able to form more definite conclusions on Berry's condition at the time of the offense. Dr. Masbaum stated that "at the time of the alleged offense, it was my diagnostic impression there were four possibilities associated with the alcohol use at that time to explain [Berry's] symptoms and behavior." Dr. Masbaum named the four: alcohol intoxication, pathological intoxication, alcohol hallucinosis, and delirium tremens. Dr. Masbaum explained that the first three are "connected with voluntary alcohol use" whereas delirium tremens is "the only one to fall in the category of being a severe mental disorder." The trial court then asked Dr. Masbaum which of the four diagnostic possibilities outlined he would choose based on the course of Berry's treatment at the hospital after the incident and the manner in which Berry responded to the treatment. Dr. Masbaum responded, "Well, since [Berry] did not go into delirium tremens ... then I believe one of the other three alcohol situations explain his symptoms and probably the first one, acute alcoholic intoxication, although the second also could be a factor." The trial court explored this issue further and asked Dr. Masbaum, "Did you, do you feel that absent delirium tremens that the patient could have been in alcohol withdrawal without any sign of D.T.?" Dr. Masbaum responded, "Yes. [Berry] could have had just a low grade type of withdrawal. There are all grades of it." The State then asked Dr. Masbaum, "So, basically, your diagnosis, the defendant placed himself in the alcohol-induced psychosis by voluntarily abusing alcohol; is that correct?" Dr. Masbaum responded, "Yes."
Dr. Masbaum also explained that Berry could have been intoxicated without showing any signs to that effect: "a person with chronic alcoholism can be drinking and not show any signs of intoxication outwardly whatsoever." Dr. Masbaum also explained that although Berry reported that he stopped drinking twenty-four hours before the attack, based on his clinical experience alcoholics are "not truthful" in reporting how much they drank. Dr. Masbaum also made it clear that he believed that the bipolar diagnosis was "questionable" because there was "just too much alcohol awash here."
As stated earlier, temporary mental incapacity produced by voluntary intoxication is not an excuse for a crime. Fisher v. State, 64 Ind. 435, 440, 1878 WL 3066, at *3. In other words, that sort of temporary mental incapacity is not considered a mental disease or defect under Indiana's insanity statute. On the other hand, Indiana recognizes situations where "the ingestion of intoxicants, though voluntary, has been abused to the point that it has produced mental disease." Jackson, 273 Ind. at 52, 402 N.E.2d at 949. This type of mental disease is now commonly referred to as "settled" or "fixed" insanity. State v. Sexton, 180 Vt. 34, 904 A.2d 1092, 1101-04 (2006) (citing numerous cases and other sources that have discussed the concept of "settled" or "fixed" insanity). In cases where a defendant's conduct is caused by his or her "settled" or "fixed" insanity, the defendant would be able to meet the mental-disease prong of Indiana's insanity statute.
Here the experts disagreed as to what caused Berry's behavior.
The intersection of voluntary intoxication and insanity is murky at best. Jeff Feix & Greg Wolber, Intoxication and Settled Insanity: A Finding of Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity, 35 J. Am. Acad. Psychiatry & Law 172-82 (2007) (describing
Although we agree with the Court of Appeals that "settled insanity" is a mental disease or defect as defined in the insanity statute, we fail to see how the evidence was without conflict that Berry suffered from such a condition. As stated earlier, no expert suggested that settled insanity was the cause for Berry's behavior; in fact, all three experts ruled out delirium tremens, a form of settled insanity.
It is true that Dr. Masbaum could not give an exact label to Berry's condition.
Because the trial court appropriately found that Berry's conduct was not caused by a mental disease or defect, we need not address whether Berry could appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct.
There was credible expert testimony that Berry's behavior was caused by the voluntary abuse of alcohol and not a mental disease or defect as defined in Indiana's insanity statute. Accordingly, under the applicable standard of review, we affirm the trial court's rejection of Berry's insanity defense.
DICKSON, C.J., and SULLIVAN, RUCKER, and MASSA, JJ., concur.
Id. at 617, 251 N.E.2d at 438 (emphasis and internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting United States v. Freeman, 357 F.2d 606, 619-20 (2d Cir.1966)).
Accordingly, the trial court concluded on malingering as follows:
The Court of Appeals found it "unreasonable to conclude that Berry displayed amnesia regarding his actions during the attack." Berry, 950 N.E.2d at 837 n. 14. However, the record, specifically Berry's statement given to police the day following the attack, references Berry's amnesia. The police asked, "Uh, you're saying, you said yesterday, that you had a blank spot as you described it." Berry responded, "Yeah."