Opinion ID: 1697955
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Whether Trotter is Mentally Retarded

Text: To establish mental retardation, a defendant must demonstrate all three of the following: (1) significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning; (2) concurrent deficits in adaptive behavior; and (3) manifestation of the condition before age eighteen. Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.203(b). [6] In the proceedings held on remand, the circuit court considered the testimony or reports of six mental health experts: Drs. Calvin Pinkard, Harry Krop, Bill Mosman, Sidney Merin, Antolin Llorente, and Michael Gamache. The circuit court concluded that Trotter did not meet any of the three prongs for determining mental retardation by either the preponderance of the evidence or by clear and convincing evidence. Trotter contends this is error. We disagree and find that competent, substantial evidence supports the court's determination. First, no expert who tested Trotter's IQ as an adult, including those who also examined his adaptive skills, found that Trotter meets the definition for mental retardation. They reported IQ scores ranging from 72 to 91. The court found that variances in Trotter's IQ subtest scores were inconsistent with mental retardation. Trotter's scores on some subtests were normal, and score variances were explained by his not starting school until age nine and the deficient environment in which he grew up. The testimony and reports of several doctors directly supported this conclusion, including Dr. Krop, who examined and tested Trotter and reviewed numerous records. These same doctors found that Trotter was not deficient in adaptive skills. In addition, Dr. Mosman, a defense expert, did not assess adaptive skills because Trotter's IQ excluded Trotter from the mental retardation category. Trotter's arguments on appeal rest almost completely on the testimony of Dr. Calvin Pinkard. In 1974, Dr. Pinkard tested and interviewed Trotter (then age fifteen) to determine whether he was mentally retarded. Without examining prior school records and IQ testing or adaptive functioning, Pinkard concluded that Trotter was not mentally retarded. Pinkard determined Trotter had an IQ of 88, was normal and mature for his age, was able to follow complex verbal directions, and was capable of being trained in a variety of trades. He diagnosed Trotter with mild inadequate personality disorder based on Trotter's shyness, negative self-image, and not making it in school, but found no treatment was needed. In 2002, however, Pinkard reversed himself. He opined that Trotter was at age fifteen, and is as an adult, mentally retarded. He testified that Trotter's 1976 IQ score of 88 was artificially inflated by eight points, and having read Dr. Mosman's affidavit, Pinkard testified that Trotter had deficits in adaptive functioning. Pinkard did not examine or conduct any new testing on Trotter. Because Dr. Pinkard is the only expert who examined Trotter in his youth, Trotter contends his testimony should be essentially determinative and afforded great weight. We disagree. First, the question of evidentiary weight is reserved to the circuit court, and this Court does not reweigh the evidence. Tibbs v. State, 397 So.2d 1120, 1123 (Fla.1981) (Legal sufficiency alone, as opposed to evidentiary weight, is the appropriate concern of an appellate tribunal.), aff'd, 457 U.S. 31, 102 S.Ct. 2211, 72 L.Ed.2d 652 (1982). Second, the circuit court found Dr. Pinkard's testimony unreliable. The determination of the credibility of witnesses also is reserved to the trial court. Windom v. State, 886 So.2d 915, 927 (Fla.2004) (This Court has held that it will not substitute its judgment for that of the trial court on questions of fact, and likewise on the credibility of witnesses and the weight given to the evidence so long as the trial court's findings are supported by competent, substantial evidence.). When Trotter was fifteen, Pinkard concluded that Trotter was not mentally retarded. As the circuit court found, even if the IQ score of 88 were adjusted down to 80, the IQ would still be above the mental retardation level, a fact Pinkard admitted. Importantly, Pinkard's revised opinion does not rest on his own new examination or testing of Trotter; he did none. In fact, there is no basis in his own testimony to support his new opinion. His opinion is contradicted by the testimony of all of the other experts who did examine Trotter. Accordingly, we affirm the trial court's determination that Trotter is not mentally retarded.