People v. Lamey

CONREY, P. J.

The judgments followed upon convictions of the several crimes charged in counts I, IV and

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V of the information. Count II was dismissed and a new trial was granted of the charges contained in count III. On arraignment the defendant had pleaded, on each count, “not guilty” and “not guilty by reason of insanity.” With respect" to the pleas of “not guilty,” the evidence is amply sufficient to sustain the verdicts.

Appellant contends that the court erred in compelling him to become a witness during his trial on the plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. Over objections duly made, he was required to give testimony relating to the issues presented by that plea. This trial was before the same jury which had rendered verdicts on the principal issues. Section 1026 of the Penal Code outlines the proceeding. “When a defendant pleads not guilty by reason of insanity, and also joins with it another plea or pleas, he shall first he tried as if he had entered such other plea or pleas only, and in such trial he shall be conclusively presumed to have been sane at the time the offense is alleged to have been committed. If the jury shall find the defendant guilty . . . then the question whether the defendant was sane or insane at the time the offense was committed shall be promptly tried, either before the same jury or before a new jury, in the discretion of the court. In such trial the jury shall return a verdict either that the defendant was sane at the time the offense was committed or that he was insane at the time the offense was committed. If the verdict or finding be that the defendant was sane at the time the offense was committed, the court shall sentence the defendant as provided by law. ...”

It is declared in the Constitution of California, article I, section 13, that no person shall be compelled, in any criminal case, to be a witness against himself. In this case, under the plea of not guilty, the effect of the verdict in each instance was that .the defendant had committed the acts which, if committed by a sane person, would make him guilty of the alleged crimes. For the purposes of that verdict he was presumed to be sane, but under his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, the question of his status and responsibility as a criminal remained open and undetermined. That he was a criminal, and subject to punishment, was not yet established. Under the second plea, that issue was to be tried separately, but it was all