Nature of the Case
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Facts
Thomas and Blakely were sitting in the family room when Thomas heard the doorbell ring. D was at the door. Defendant demanded to be let in, yelling that Blakely should 'come on out' and that Thomas was his 'woman.' Thomas refused to admit D. D decided to crash through a window. D produced a handgun and fired two shots in the general direction of Thomas and Blakely. Neither was hit. Blakely then announced that he was leaving. D opened the door for him and struck Blakely in the face with his fist. D then confronted Thomas, striking her head with the butt of his gun. That caused the gun to discharge a third time. Blakely heard the shot and went next door to call the police. D fled the scene and drove to his nearby home. Police officers arrived and a stand-off ensued. D threatened to shoot himself and any officers who attempted to enter the house. When D calmed down he began talking about demons and 'money that was stolen from him.' D asked for some heart medication that was in his truck and Officer Kuhn lured him to a window by offering D his medication. Officer Kuhn tried to grab D through the open window. D got free and slammed the window on the Kuhn's fingers. D eventually surrendered. He was charged with first-degree home invasion and two counts of assault with intent to commit murder, being a felon in possession of a firearm, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and resisting and obstructing a police officer. D presented a diminished capacity defense. Several lay witnesses testified that he had been drinking before the incident and that he appeared intoxicated. D presented a report from Kingswood Hospital, where he had been treated approximately a month after the incident. It described him as being 'delusional' and indicated that he suffered from organic brain damage. The report stated: He stated that his son had been killed in April 1995 and 'they had broken into my computer.' He says that he has special forces that are guarding him; that people are stealing money from his son's records. He also hears voices telling him that people are looking and laughing at him. He is afraid that someone is trying to poison him. He talks of the organization that is manipulating him and that someone has put 'voodoo dolls' on him. Dr. Michael Abramsky, a board-certified clinical and forensic psychologist testified that D was mentally ill at the time and that D's drug-induced organic brain damage, and the ingestion of alcohol and various prescription drugs, was the likely cause not only of his behavior but his claimed loss of memory of the incident. He opined that D suffered from diminished capacity and that he, therefore, could not formulate a specific intent. A Dr. Watson believed 'that the possibility of D exaggerating appeared to be more likely .' The trial court found D guilty as charged with both first-degree home invasion and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. It rejected the diminished capacity defense. The court of appeals affirmed. The court of appeals rejected d's argument that the trial court erred in shifting the burden to D to prove his claim of diminished capacity by a preponderance of the evidence. D appealed.
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