People v. Cook

GIBSON, C. J.

Defendant was indicted for the murder of Robert Dewey. He pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. Later he withdrew his plea of not guilty, and the sole issue at the trial was whether or not he was insane at the time he committed the homicide. The jury returned a verdict that he was sane. The court considered the evidence for the purpose of fixing the degree of the crime, found defendant guilty of murder in the first degree, and sentenced him to death. This appeal is taken automatically under section 1239(b) .of the Penal Code.

On the day of the homicide defendant kidnapped a deputy sheriff, bound him, left him at the side of the road and stole his car. Defendant used the red light on the deputy’s car to stop an automobile driven by Dewey, and, at the point of a gun, forced Dewey to give him a ride. While they were in the car, defendant shot Dewey in the side, pushed him out of the door and then shot him a second time. Dewey was left lying in the road, and his dead body was discovered by the deputy sheriff a few hours later. Defendant then took Dewey’s ear into Mexico where he stopped another automobile and forced its two occupants to drive him around for several days until he was apprehended by the Mexican police.

When defendant was returned to this country he was taken into custody by federal officials upon the charge that he had kidnapped a family of five, consisting of father, mother and three children, and had killed them after transporting them from Oklahoma to Arkansas. He was convicted of violation of the Lindbergh Kidnapping Law (18 H.S.C.A. §1201), given five consecutive sentences of sixty years, and incarcerated in Alcatraz Island Penitentiary, from which he was brought to Imperial County for the trial of the present case.

Defendant contends on this appeal, as one ground for reversal of the judgment, that he was denied due process of law, and in support of this claim he asserts that by ar

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rangement of the district attorney three alienists appointed by the trial court held “an extrajudicial hearing” at which various witnesses were examined without the presence of defendant or his counsel and that his right to be confronted with witnesses was abridged. The alienists were the superintendents of the state mental hospitals at Camarillo, Patton and Stockton, which are located at considerable distances from the place of trial. They were notified by the district attorney that certain witnesses and certain transcripts would be available on a specified date at El Centro, the county seat of Imperial County, and accordingly, as a matter of convenience, the doctors met at that time. They conducted the usual type of psychiatric examination which involved reading the grand jury transcript and Federal Bureau of Investigation reports, interviewing witnesses who had observed defendant’s conduct, inquiring into his background and his behavior before and after the homicide, and then examining defendant. The district attorney informed the doctors of the nature of the case but did not discuss it with them in detail, neither he nor anyone from his office was present at the interviews, and his office was not informed of the doctors’ findings before they took the witness stand. There is no showing that defendant was prevented from examining any witnesses interviewed by the alienists or that he was denied access to any documents which they considered. He was afforded full opportunity to cross-examine the doctors as to the basis for their opinions, and their testimony disclosed the manner in which they made their examination for the purpose of determining defendant’s sanity. No objection was made to their testimony, and there was no motion to strike it. The record does not support the claims made by defendant or show that there was any denial of due process.