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State v. Bottrell12/15/2000
to burn a towel, setting off the smoke alarm. Then she went into the bedroom, got Hall's safe out, and rifled through it looking for money. She and her boyfriend, Larry Jones, later returned looking for money. They stole Hall's keys and his Lincoln Continental.
Bottrell acknowledged that on February 28, 1998, the night of the homicide, she went to Hall's house planning to get money from him. Sometime before the night of the homicide and while still incarcerated, Bottrell told a fellow inmate that she would take Hall for everything he had, including his Lincoln Continental, Jeep, tools, and checkbook. She previously told another inmate, sometime before February 14, that: she would marry Hall; because he was old and on insulin, it would not take long for him to die; and if he had an overdose of insulin, he would die and everything would be hers. Although Bottrell claimed initially to have planned to exchange sex with Hall for money, she testified that she stole two of Hall's checks the day before his death and gave them to Jones, who tried to forge and to cash them. After Hall's death, while incarcerated in the Portland jail, Bottrell told yet another inmate that: she had gone over to Hall's house planning to take money and 'stuff' which prompted Hall to call the police and precipitated the fight; she was glad she had killed him; and she was going to claim that she killed him because he was a child molester.
Bottrell was charged by an amended information with one count of first degree premeditated murder and one count of first degree felony murder, with a predicate crime of robbery. The jury returned a verdict of guilty of the lesser included offense of second degree murder on count one and first degree felony murder on count two.
I. MURDER IN THE SECOND DEGREE
A. Standard of Review
A trial court's evidentiary rulings are reviewed for an abuse of discretion. State v. Powell, 126 Wn.2d 244, 258, 893 P.2d 615 (1995).
B. Dr. Stanulis
1. ER 702, 401, and 402
'Diminished capacity is a mental condition not amounting to insanity which prevents the defendant from possessing the requisite mental state necessary to commit the crime charged.' State v. Warden, 133 Wn.2d 559, 564, 947 P.2d 708 (1997). Here, part of Bottrell's defense was that her ability to form the requisite intent was impaired by PTSD. First degree premeditated murder requires 'premeditated intent.' RCW 9A.32.030(1)(a). The lesser included crime of second degree murder requires the 'intent to cause the death of another person.' The State bears the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant had the requisite mental state for the crime charged. State v. James, 47 Wn. App 605, 609, 736 P.2d 700 (1987). When specific intent or knowledge is an element of the crime charged, a defendant is entitled to present evidence showing an inability to form the specific intent or knowledge at the time of the crime. State v. Edmon, 28 Wn. App. 98, 102-04, 621 P.2d 1310, review denied, 95 Wn.2d 1019 (1981); State v. Martin 14 Wn. App. 74, 75, 538 P.2d 873 (1975), review denied, 86 Wn.2d 1009 (1976).
Bottrell argues that the trial court should have allowed her expert, Dr. Robert Stanulis, to testify that she suffered from PTSD and had diminished capacity. Bottrell contends that the foundational requirements for admissibility of Dr. Stanulis's testimony as set forth in State v. Edmon are not absolute and that the testimony should have been admissible under ER 702, ER 401, ER 402, and State v. Ellis, 136 Wn.2d 498, 963 P.2d 843 (1998). The State responds that the Edmon factors were not satisfied, and that Ellis
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