“Does this mental state of dissociative reaction you have been talking about bear any other tag or label?”
“It does. It has also been known as irresistible impulse.”
The Dancer was evidently growing suspicious that irresistible impulse might be recognized as a defense in Michigan and he did not like the fatal words. “Object, Your Honor,” he said. “That is invading the province of the court and jury. Move that it be stricken.”
“Mr. Biegler?” the Judge said.
“Your Honor, the Doctor has called this condition one of dissociative reaction and I have asked him if it had any other name or label and he has just told us.” I walked forward. “This is crucial to our case, Your Honor, and we will go to bat on thatâ”
The Judge held up his hand. “No need to make a speech, Mr. Biegler,” he said. “The answer may stand.”
“Doctor,” I said, “I appreciate that as a professional man you feel naturally impelled to couch your opinions and conclusions in professional language. But I wonder whether you could, in capsule form, give us your opinion on the psychiatric condition you find here as it might be more understandable to a layman?”
“Yes, sir, I'll try. The situation described in this hypothetical question is one of massive shock; the mental and emotional equilibrium of the man would be profoundly disturbed; a tension approaching the unbearable would be created and he would, in his trance-like state or spell, be irresistibly impelled to seek immediate means of alleviating this tension.”
“Now, Doctor, I ask you whether in your opinion this hypothetical man laboring under the mental state you have described would have been apt to have gone to an aging and unarmed deputized caretaker and instead asked him to grab the deceased and hold him for the police?”
Claude Dancer arose but the Judge silenced him with the upraised palm of his hand. Both the Dancer and I were wearing him down.
“Such behavior would have been incompatible with everything else you have enumerated in this hypothetical question,” the witness replied. “The question indicates that this is certainly a hypothetical man of honor, a man who would sense that personal security depends upon self-respect, self-esteem, ideals and honor. To have such a man at this particular point turn to an aging and unarmed caretaker would have been simply incompatible with the hypothetical man up to this point. I would not relish attempting to explain any circumstances under which such a hypothetical man could do such a thing.”
“Doctor, I ask you whether or not he, the Lieutenant, would have gone to the bar to grab the proprietorâ”
Mr. Dancer: “This is supposed to be hypothetical. We should keep it that way.”
“I beg your pardon, Mr. Hypothetical Assistant to Prosecutor Lodwick,” I said.
“Someone sounds hypocritical to me,” the Dancer shot back.
“Gentlemen, gentlemen,” the Judge broke in wearily. “Let us
please
saw some hypothetical wood.”
Doctor Smith smiled. “In the state in which this hypothetical lieutenant was at the time he would have gone to the hypothetical inn, in my opinion he would have done so with or without a gun, whether or not the hypothetical proprietor had any hypothetical guns available, and whether or not he knew that they were there. In my opinion he would have walked into a cannon mounted on the bar. I think it is important to understand that the very essence of this hypothetical man's manhood was at stake here. It could countenance no alternative short of oblivion or death, and the presence or absence of an alternative courseâconsideration of its significance or of any other course of actionâcould not have prevailed against this overpowering need of alleviating the tension under which he labored. The need to alleviate this tension took precedence over everything else.”
“Doctor, can you explain why this need involved the hypothetical tavern proprietor?”
“It was the most natural thing under the circumstances that the efforts to alleviate this tension would be directed against the hypothetical cause or precipitator of this tension. In your question you indicate only such conditions that would make it clear that this is a man of action. He could not suddenly have started to behave in a condition so completely foreign to him as to philosophically have pondered this matter. This man was no complex self-searching character out of Henry James. Action was the thing that was essential.”
I wondered wryly how many students of Henry James we had on-the jury. “You may state whether or not this hypothetical lieutenant might have done this while feeling angry toward the hypothetical tavern keeper?” (Dancer would surely harp on this, and I thought it better to try to becalm his sails in advance.)
“This man might have felt anger among all the other emotions he would be capable of feeling at that time. I would think it would be impossible to limit that emotionâthere would certainly be an appeal to anger.”
“Doctor, I ask you whether or not this mental state or condition of which you speak would necessarily interfere with the physical abilities or manual dexterity of the hypothetical lieutenant, as for example his ability to quickly produce a gun and aim it accurately.”
“It would not. Indeed it might well even facilitate whatever activity this man was following.”
“Have you seen such phenomena in your experience as a psychiatrist?”
“I have seen and I have heardâI have heard of it from those in whom the phenomena took place.”
“Doctor,” I pushed on, “you may state whether or not intensive and extensive psychiatric observation and examination of the individual is important in reaching psychiatric conclusions about his mental state.”
“I would say they were essential.”
“Can you explain that?”
“To understand that a particular experience would be a shock to one man or to another man does not necessarily require personal observation. To understand why the particular shock would result in a particular course of conduct or mental state in a given individual requires intense observation of the highest order. That, sir, is psychiatry.”
“You may state, Doctor, whether or not you would venture or attempt to pass a psychiatric opinion on the past mental state of either the hypothetical lieutenant or the real Lieutenant Manion on the basis of merely sitting here during the course of this trial.”
Doctor Smith shot a quick look at the People's psychiatrist. “I would consider it impossible to pass any valid professional opinion on the state of this man's mind on or about August sixteenth and immediately thereafter on the basis of such observations.”
I turned to Claude Dancer. “Your witness,” I said.
“Doctor, during your examination of this defendant did you find any psychosis?” Claude Dancer shot out before leaving his chair.
“I did not.”
“Any neurosis?” he asked, advancing with his stealthy short-legged tread.
“That is a broad question. I found no history of serious neuroses.”
Claude Dancer now paused squarely in front of the witness. “Now, Doctor, will you tell us what facts or factors in the hypothetical question you considered the most important?”
This was a cleverly loaded question: dynamite, in fact; the moment the doctor started isolating factors in our hypothetical question he was opening the gate to the possible tearing of our questionâand of his opinionâto tatters. I had not anticipated this line of questioning or warned the Doctor about it and I drew in my breath awaiting his answer.
“The whole hypothetical question was important,” the Doctor quietly answered as I began gratefully to breathe again. “It delineated a particular hypothetical man. No one, two, or three factors more or less could quite do so, so that I must say that my answers were based on the whole question.”
Suavely: “Weren't there any parts that were a
little
more significant than others?”
“No part was so significant that I would like to take it away from the rest.”
Still tugging: “You mean you don't recall the parts which were more significant?”
“I mean what I said, that the whole question as stated is significant and separating the question part from part would destroy the significance of the individual parts, like adding dimples or removing the smile from Mona Lisa. This is a question dependent one part upon the other and I would not care to take one part and call it more or less significant.”
The Dancer was getting no place on that and he wisely changed the subject. “How is dissociative reaction classified by psychiatrists?”
“This is a temporary neurotic condition.”
“It is not a psychosis?”
“It is not a psychosis nor is it ordinarily even a serious neurosis. This depends upon how you are referring to the reactionâit can of course be quite serious at the
time
that one is suffering it, both as to
the consequences to himself and to others. But if duration is considered it is generally of a more temporary nature.”
“Now, Doctor, just what tests were made when you conducted your examination of the Lieutenant?”
“He underwent all the usual laboratory tests.”
“Was he given a Wechsler-Bellevue test?”
“He was not.”
“Was there a Bender-Gestalt test?”
“No.”
“What type of tests are those?”
“They are psychological tests.”
“And no psychological tests were given?”
“The ones that I thought were indicated were administered and examined and appraised by me.”
“What were they?”
“An apperception test was one.”
“Is it a psychological test or projection?”
“Both psychological and a projection test. Projection test is a general heading for psychological tests.”
“What is the purpose of the Wechsler-Bellevue test?”
“The Wechsler-Bellevue intelligence scale would, as its name implies, give some estimate of an individual's intelligence and it may also be used to determine the classification of some mental disorders.”
“What type of disorders?”
“Well, it may contribute information about feeble-mindedness, where suspected, depending upon the skill of the person administering it. It could be of significant help in the field of educational psychology. I make no pretense of being an authority in that latter field, however.”
“Did you have the facilities to administer this test?”
“Yes.”
“And the Bender-Gestalt test?”
“Yes.”
“Did you administer either to Lieutenant Manion?”
“I did not.”
“Why?”
“Because I felt they were not indicated. The latter is a psychological test aimed largely at determining the accuracy of perception.”
“Did you make a personality inventory study of the Lieutenant?”
(The Dancer had evidently taken a short cram course on the argot of psychiatry, and he was trotting out his knowledge with characteristic glib crispness.)
“I requested no such study. I made my own individual psychiatric study of this man. There are different tests that may be used. I did not use any of those you have mentioned.”
“What tests did you use, then?”
“I tested his perceptions rather carefully and then I used an electroencephalogram. Then with my own rather intensive observations and study I felt I was qualified to make some observations about this man and perhaps understand quite a little about him.”
Claude Dancer paused and referred to his notes and glibly tossed out some more tests. “Did you give him the Szondi test?”
“I did not give him a Szondi experimental diagnostic examination.”
“A Rorschach psychodiagnostic examination?”
“No.”
“A thematic apperception test?”
“No, sir.”
“Or any personality screening tests?”
“I did not.” The Doctor paused and glanced at the People's psychiatrist. “I may add, sir, in a general way that I happen to belong to the school of psychiatry that tends to stress individual study and appraisal rather than to that group that has sometimes lightly been referred to as the slot-machine or gadget school of psychiatry.”
Claude Dancer ignored the thrust and pressed on. “From your examination of the Lieutenant did you find any history of delusions?”
“None.”
“Or loss of memory?”
“None before this case.”
“Or hallucinations?”
“No.”
“Or conversion hysteria?”
“Well, the dissociative reaction itself embraces cases of what has been called such hysteria.”
The Dancer paused triumphantly as though he had dug up a fresh bone. “In common language, Doctor, isn't the conversion hysteria also known as a fit of temper?”
“It is not. I know of no reputable psychiatrist or psychiatric au. thority who would so describe it.”
“How would you describe it in common language?”
“I think I have done so already in the commonest language I could and still preserve accuracy,” the Doctor replied coolly. “If you wish me to repeat it please ask the appropriate questions and I shall do so again.”
Claude Dancer eyed the witness and then referred to his notes. “Doctor, on direct examination you were asked if the hypothetical lieutenant was able to distinguish between right and wrong and you answered that he
probably
could not have, adding that you did not think it made much difference. Do you still feel the same way?”
Quietly: “I do,” the witness answered.
“Then he might actually have known the difference between right and wrong?”
“He well might have.”
Triumphantly: “Then how can you possibly come in here and testify that the Lieutenant was legally insane?” he shot at the witness, and I now saw that Claude Dancer himself apparently did not know that irresistible impulse was a defense to crime in Michigan under a plea of insanity, a situation for which he could scarcely be blamed when one considered that Parnell and Iâand I a D.A. for ten yearsâhad had such a devil of a time to unearth it ourselves. Yet the situation was fraught with peril and I waited anxiously for the answer.
“I did not ever say here that anyone was
legally
insane, sir,” the Doctor coolly replied. “I have said that I thought the hypothetical lieutenant was suffering from a medically recognized mental aberration known as dissociative reaction, sometimes known as irresistible impulse, and I say and repeat that a consciousness of doing right or wrong would not make much if any difference to a victim of that mental disorder.”
Claude Dancer turned his back on the witness and shot a significant look at the jury and then over at me. Then, with his back still turned to the witness: “And you are willing to rest your testimony in this case, Doctor, on that answer?” he fairly purred.
“I am, sir.”
Claude Dancer was going to have himself a little surprise, I saw, if only the Judge gave the jury our requested instructions on irresistible impulse and if only the jury understood and heeded them. Always there was the big uncertain
if
⦠.
Claude Dancer veered on to another subject. “Might this man have felt anger toward the hotel proprietor?” he pressed on, facing the witness again.
“Are you referring now to the real or hypothetical lieutenant, Mr. Dancer?” the witness countered calmly.
Claude Dancer was stung to be corrected by this cool young cucumber. “Either one,” he snapped. “As a matter of fact wasn't the Lieutenant angered at the proprietor and didn't he go over there in a homicidal rage to shoot him to death?”
The Doctor grew thoughtful. “He might well have felt some anger toward the proprietor,” he conceded. “It would have been rather abnormal if he hadn't. But we may be sure it wouldn't solely be anger.” He paused and smiled slightly. “Just as you have now displayed anger at me, Mr. Dancer, yet your main desire and dearest wish is still the cool and calculated oneâto trap me if you possibly can.”
Claude Dancer glared momentarily at the witness and then evidently decided not to pursue the subject of his own anger. “But wouldn't the defendant's main desire and dearest wish be to vent his wrath and anger upon the hated proprietor?” he persisted.
The Doctor shook his head. “Abstract words like âpatriotism' and âanger' and âlove' and âhate' exist mostly as convenient and oversimplifying labels for the complex emotions that men feel, Mr. Dancer,” the Doctor said. “The feelings of men do not exist because of the words. The feelings were there long before men had any words. Rarely if ever, in fact, are men's emotions confined to any mere word or set of words. To insist that the Lieutenant felt only anger is unduly to isolate and stress but one of the many complex and conflicting emotions he was doubtless feeling at the time.”
“Very well, Doctor, please tell us some of the others,” Claude Dancer said, smiling sweetly. “Perhaps love?”
The Doctor avoided the looming semantic morass of that clever trap. “I cannot say, sir. All we can be fairly sure of is that it wasn't anger alone, if anger indeed there was any. When we are discussing the ultimate personality of a man, the oppressed human psyche, driven and at bay, we do not hang a tag on it called âanger' or âlove' and think we have described that man; when we do so we have only ignored the problem. Only in certain primitive tribes and in ancient Greek drama did men dare label the whole man by the use of masks. And everybody understood they were mere convenient tags, conventional symbols representing comedy and tragedy and the like ânever the whole man.”
I glanced at the jury, fearful that they might themselves be sinking into a hopeless morass of semantics. Instead they were sitting alert in
their chairs and appeared to be having the time of their lives. “Hell's fire,” their combined expressions seemed to say, “this beats the graven wisdom even of the
Reader's Digest
and the
Saturday Evening Post.”
The Dancer veered away from anger. “Are neuroses considered insanity?” he said.
“Usually they are not.”
“That is all,” Mr. Dancer concluded, turning away.
“No re-direct examination,” I swiftly put in. Then I took a deep breath and went on. “That is our case. The defense rests.”
“Noon recess,” the Judge said. “Please be back at one P.M.” He glanced at Max. “Mister Sheriff,” he murmured.