Finger v. State

27 P.3d 66 (2001), cert. denied, 534 U.S. 1127 (2002)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

At 4:00 a.m., Jeff Jordan, a neighbor of P, woke to the sound of a woman screaming. A short time later, P pounded on Jordan’s door while shouting 'someone killed my mother! She’s hurt real bad! I think she might be dead!' Jordan called 911 then got dressed and opened his door. P was not in sight. When the police arrived, Jordan noticed that P was now standing some distance down the block. Police officers approached P who turned and ran away. As the officers caught up with P, they noticed he was covered in blood. Because of the large amount of blood found on P as well as information received from Jordan, the officers wished to verify the safety of Brassaw or any other occupants inside P’s residence. Jose Rivera, who shared occupancy of the residence with P and Brassaw, granted permission for the officers to enter the house. Upon entering the residence, police discovered Brassaw lying dead on the kitchen floor. Brassaw had been stabbed one time in the head with a kitchen knife and had bled to death from the wound. P blamed the crime on Rivera. There was no blood on Rivera. P was arrested for the murder. P has an extensive history of mental illness. P has been diagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia, manic-depressive disorder with homicidal and suicidal tendencies, intermittent explosive disorder and paranoia. P periodically suffers from visual and auditory hallucinations. In addition, P had a long history of violence and co-dependency with his mother and had been institutionalized in mental health facilities several times due to delusions and attacks on his mother or other members of his family. Two of the three mental evaluations concluded that P was unable to aid in his own defense. Based upon the evaluations, the district court committed P to the Lakes Crossing Center for the Criminally Insane until such time as he was found competent to participate in judicial proceedings. Eventually, P was fit for trial and P filed a motion seeking leave to enter a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. P’s counsel filed the motion because the 1995 Nevada Legislature had amended the laws concerning the treatment of insanity as a defense to criminal culpability. Counsel believed, based upon the legislative history of the amendments, that he would be prohibited from arguing that P should be acquitted of the murder charges on the grounds of legal insanity. The motion was never argued, and no order disposing of the motion was ever entered by the district court. P then requested permission from the district court to enter a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. The State objected, and the district court denied the request without explanation. There is no indication in the record that the district court considered the legal issues raised in the written motion. P then determined that there were no issues to be resolved by a trial because of his inability to raise insanity. Therefore, Finger entered his plea of guilty but mentally ill, deciding to raise the constitutional issues relating to legal insanity through an appeal pursuant to NRS 174.035(3). P was convicted of second-degree murder. This appeal followed.