Opinion ID: 2550813
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Failure to Order a Sanity Commission

Text: Defense counsel argues that the trial court failed to order a sanity commission even though he and the defendant consistently raised issues concerning the defendant's incompetency to stand trial. At various pre-trial hearings, defense counsel articulated his concerns, which included: defendant's belief that he had a chip in his brain that was implanted to surveil and punish him; a related belief that his jail cell and the attorney visiting area were bugged and that his attorneys were surreptitiously recording him; as well as hallucinations and paranoia about being haunted in jail by an apparition of the surviving victim in the case. Defense counsel suggests that the issue of a sanity commission was first raised at a hearing on July 5, 2007. At that time, defense counsel indicated that defendant would be asking for a sanity commission, to which the court responded, . . . be prepared to present evidence in connection with that. Otherwise I'm going to deny it. . . While assuring the court that he would file the motion, the record shows that defense never filed the formal motion for sanity commission. However, on July 9, 2007, defense counsel did file a Motion for Psychiatric Examination, arguing that he has reason to believe that his client may be suffering from some mental disease, injury or congenital deficiency which could render client incapable of assisting in preparing a defense and standing trial. Defense counsel thus requested the appointment of a psychiatrist or psychologist to examine defendant in the Morehouse Parish Jail, and to report back to him with respect to whether defendant was competent to stand trial, and whether he had been sane at the time of the offense. At a hearing in October 2007, defense counsel told the court that the defendant was displaying signs of paranoid delusional behavior, specifically that he believed people were talking to him and listening to his conversations in jail. Ultimately, defense counsel requested an extension of time to evaluate defendant and produce evidence of his competency to the court. The court granted 30 days to secure a mental health examination at the expense of the Indigent Defender Board; however, the defense counsel failed to produce any evidence from the mental examination that would support his incompetency claim. Subsequently, at a November 2007 hearing, defense counsel informed the court that they had secured a psychologist, Dr. James B. Pinkston, to examine defendant and that they would be filing a motion for a sanity commission when they received his report. However, defense counsel failed to produce a medical report of Dr. Pinkston's evaluation of the defendant's competency. Again, at a hearing on April 8, 2008, defense counsel made clear that experts were still being consulted and reminded the court of a black spot on defendant's brain that a neurologist needed to assess. After the hearing in April, there appears to be no additional discussion of filing a motion for a sanity commission, and Dr. Pinkston's report was never produced. Defense counsel argues that a formal motion for a sanity commission need not be filed, as long as reasonable grounds exist to doubt his client's mental capacity to proceed have been demonstrated. In reviewing the record, this Court found medical evidence existed in the contemporaneous records [1] of defendant's pre-trial incarceration in the Morehouse Parish Prison [2] and treatment at Bastrop Mental Health Center. [3] Because no scientific evidence was introduced pretrial to support the defendant's claim that the trial court erred in failing to find reasonable grounds to order a sanity commission on its own motion, defendant relies on anecdotal evidence from the pre-trial record that might suggest mental illness. However, nothing presented to the court directly called into question defendant's ability to assist counsel or understand the charges against him. Defense counsel failed to present evidence that proved that the defendant could not: recall facts pertaining to his actions; listen to the witnesses' testimony and inform his lawyer of any misstatements; or testify in his own defense. Moreover, the glaring omission of Dr. Pinkston's report serves only to highlight the lack of hard evidence of incompetency. Finally, trial counsel's failure to file a motion requesting a sanity commission or turn over Dr. Pinkston's report to the court or the state, after repeated promises to do so, makes defendant's current claim that the trial court failed to discharge its due process obligations appear disingenuous. Accordingly, nothing in defense counsel's argument suggests the trial court abused its discretion by failing to, on its own motion, institute a sanity commission, pre-trial.