Opinion ID: 4514756
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Severe and Persistent Mental Illness

Text: ¶9. Dickerson argues that schizophrenia is a severe and persistent mental illness and that Dr. Storer’s diagnosis that Dickerson did not have schizophrenia based on the lack of symptoms Dickerson displayed was erroneous. The State argues that Dickerson failed to cite any relevant authority to support this contention. “Failure to cite relevant authority obviates the appellate court’s obligation to review such issues.” Arrington v. State, 267 So. 3d 753, 756 (Miss. 2019) (internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting Byrom v. State, 863 So. 2d 836, 853 (Miss. 2018)). ¶10. Regardless of Dickerson’s failure to cite authority to support his contention, this Court has held that a person suffering from schizophrenia may still be competent to stand trial as well as competent to be executed. Hearn v. State, 3 So. 3d 722, 736, 736 n.19 (Miss. 2008) (citing Indiana v. Edwards, 554 U.S. 164, 128 S. Ct. 2379, 171 L. Ed. 2d 345 (2008)); Billiot v. State, 655 So. 2d 1, 17 (Miss. 1995). ¶11. Dickerson argues that Dr. Storer erred by determining that Dickerson did not suffer from schizophrenia because Dickerson had been previously diagnosed with the illness in 6 1997 by another doctor. Dr. Storer explained that he disagreed with the previous diagnosis because Dickerson’s symptoms at the time Dr. Storer evaluated him were not consistent with schizophrenia. Dickerson argues that his symptoms of schizophrenia were merely in remission when Dr. Storer observed him for this competency hearing. He further argues that according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), a psychologist seeing a patient during remission might fail to detect symptoms of the illness. Dr. Storer, however, testified at the hearing that the DSM-5 states that “[n]egative symptoms are more closely related to prognosis than are positive symptoms and tend to be the most persistent.” Accordingly, Dr. Storer testified that the signs of the remaining, underlying negative symptoms would be fairly obvious to a trained psychologist. In his report, Dr. Storer noted that Dickerson’s emotional functioning was good and that his eye contract was also appropriate. Based on Dickerson’s failure to display any signs of underlying negative symptoms associated with schizophrenia, Dr. Storer concluded that Dickerson did not have schizophrenia. ¶12. Regardless of the procedural bar to this claim for failure to cite relevant authority, we find that Dr. Storer’s conclusion that Dickerson did not suffer from a severe and persistent mental illness was reasonably based on the DSM-5. Therefore the trial court’s finding that Dickerson did not suffer from a severe and persistent mental illness was not manifestly against the overwhelming weight of the evidence