Opinion ID: 153666
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Mr. Veatch's Competency to Stand Trial

Text: 52 Defendant Veatch asserts that the district court erred in finding him competent to stand trial. We must accept the district court's determination that a defendant is competent to stand trial unless the conclusion is clearly erroneous. United States v. Baca, 687 F.2d 1356, 1361 (10th Cir.1982). The legal test for competency was set out in Dusky v. United States, 362 U.S. 402 (1960). In Dusky, the Supreme Court held that the competency of a criminal defendant depends on whether he  'has sufficient present ability to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding--and whether he has a rational as well as factual understanding of the proceedings against him.'  Id. (citation omitted). We must rely heavily on the discretion of the trial court in reviewing the trial court's determination of whether a defendant is competent to stand trial under 18 U.S.C. § 4241(d). United States v. Parsons, 967 F.2d 452, 455 (10th Cir.1992). 53 As explained above, the government requested that Mr. Veatch undergo a competency evaluation. He was examined by government medical experts in Springfield, Missouri, and later by a private court-appointed psychiatrist, Dr. John Smith in Oklahoma City. Mr. Veatch was initially deemed incompetent to stand trial in December 1993. See United States v. Veatch, 842 F.Supp. 480, 482 (W.D.Okla.1993). Mr. Veatch later underwent additional observation. A second report on his competency was issued, and Mr. Veatch was again interviewed by Dr. Smith. After a second competency hearing on May 2, 1994, the district court found Mr. Veatch competent to stand trial. 54 The issue is whether the government established by a preponderance of the evidence that Mr. Veatch was competent to stand trial on May 2, 1994. The fact that the district court initially found Mr. Veatch incompetent does not mean that it could not subsequently find him competent. 6 See Parsons, 967 F.2d at 455-56. 55 In the second competency hearing, the district court found Mr. Veatch was competent to stand trial based on the testimony of the government's witness, Dr. Mary Alice Conroy. The court found Dr. Conroy's testimony to be far more in-depth than that of the defendant's expert, Dr. Smith. Dr. Conroy stated that she was able to provide a thorough diagnosis because she had reviewed his entire past record of mental health, and because she had observed him over an extended period of time for twenty-four hours a day. In her testimony, Dr. Conroy explained Mr. Veatch's prior mental examinations and evaluations sufficiently for the court to understand why Mr. Veatch was doing the things that he was doing. 56 Dr. Conroy diagnosed Mr. Veatch as having a personality disorder with antisocial and narcissistic features. She testified that it was her opinion--and the opinion of the staff at the Federal Medical Center in Rochester, Minnesota--that Mr. Veatch possessed no mental illness that would impair his contact with reality, that would impair his understanding of the legal process, or that would impair his ability to consult with an attorney. 57 Mr. Veatch's counsel claims that he has a delusional belief that the government is conspiring against him. Dr. Conroy testified that Mr. Veatch was not delusional. She supported her opinion by stating that a person who is delusional typically does not deny the facts giving rise to the appearance of delusion. The psychiatric records of Mr. Veatch indicate that in the past he did just the opposite of what would be expected if he were truly delusional. Dr. Conroy also testified that a person who is delusional has a fixed set of beliefs, and when confronted with the contradictory evidence, will absolutely and unconditionally defend his beliefs. She then gave two examples of how Mr. Veatch conducted himself in a manner contrary to that of a delusional person. On crossexamination, Dr. Conroy was asked whether she felt Mr. Veatch believed his allegations of government conspiracy, and she answered that she did not believe that he did. She stated that delusional beliefs do not just suddenly appear, but they develop over a period of time. Mr. Veatch's mental health records--including those dating back to Mr. Veatch's 1980 trial in Arizona--do not show a past history of delusional beliefs. 58 Finally, Dr. Conroy testified that she believed Mr. Veatch was malingering, which she defined as feigning mental illness for secondary gain. She recounted a conversation where Mr. Veatch indicated that he expected the charges against him would be dropped, not because of the alleged government conspiracy but because he expected to be found incompetent as well as nondangerous, thereby resulting in his release from custody in the future. She stated that three other doctors, while diagnosing Mr. Veatch in the past as psychotic, gave a secondary hypothesis of malingering. Also, Dr. Conroy testified that one doctor's primary diagnosis would have changed to malingering if he had known the nature of the pending charges against Mr. Veatch. 59 Mr. Veatch's counsel also argues that Mr. Veatch's incompetency is evidenced through his presentation at his subsequent trial and in these proceedings. In United States v. Prince, 938 F.2d 1092, 1094 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 961 (1991), we explained that it is appropriate to consider, in addition to the medical evidence, the defendant's behavior and demeanor at trial. Mr. Veatch insisted on representing himself, and the district court conducted a Faretta waiver-of-counsel inquiry. See Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806 (1975) (See discussion below.). At the waiver hearing, Mr. Veatch stated that he understood the possible punishment in the case was death, saying, The Nazis will damn sure murder me. He said he anticipated calling approximately 800 witnesses. Then, the district court ordered the presence of stand-by counsel, whom Mr. Veatch repeatedly referred to as a bozo. 60 Before, during, and after the trial, Mr. Veatch filed dozens of frivolous motions. For example, Mr. Veatch filed several motions requesting court-appointed investigators to investigate his claim of a government conspiracy. In regard to the conspiracy, Mr. Veatch wrote: 61 Veatch and Sealander's contention is that this is a Political Malicious Prosecution that involves corruption from the Bush Reagan years that dealt Drugs, Murder, Extortion etc. through controlled and corrupt prosecutors, federal police and federal judges. This prosecution was created to silence Veatch and the alleged law violation was done with the full knowledge of the D.O.J. for CIA, etc. through Sir Run Run Shaw Commander of the British Empire (CBE) which is a front for International Spying dealing in Billions of Dollars in illegal activities. 62 (R., Doc. 168 at 4). In his appellate pleadings, Mr. Veatch has called the trial judge a Nazi and numerous obscene names. 63 Despite his petulance and obvious contempt of the court, Mr. Veatch did present a cogent defense. Among other arguments, he stated in his opening statement that the whole case boils down to the issue of intent. He told the jury that he had permission to assume Mr. Dion's name; he stated that he opened Dion Enterprises so the company would grow; he stated that the bank was aware that sales would be made by individuals other than Dion Enterprises' employees; that an effort was made to develop a system that would prevent credit card fraud; and that the loss was caused by the bank's action of closing down the account--not by his actions or any of his employees. The record indicates that Mr. Veatch conducted himself as well as or better than any layman would be expected to do under similar circumstances. Also, the court appointed stand-by counsel, which was available to provide legal advice and authority to Mr. Veatch. 64 The record shows that the district court carefully considered all of the evidence relevant to the issue of Mr. Veatch's competence, and it determined that he was competent to stand trial. The district court's finding was not clearly erroneous.