Opinion ID: 2612858
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: appointment of one psychologist

Text: On July 2, 1992, Peckham filed a motion to determine whether he was competent to stand trial, stating that he might be unable to assist in preparing his defense. On July 2, 1992, the trial judge ordered a psychological examination of Peckham by the Sedgwick County Mental Health Department. On July 13, 1992, the trial judge appointed Psychological Services Clinic to conduct a psychological examination of Peckham. Peckham argues that the trial court appointed Dr. Howard Brodsky to evaluate the appellant. He suggests that K.S.A. 1993 Supp. 22-3302(3)(c) requires the appointment of two qualified licensed physicians or licensed psychologists, or one of each, to examine the defendant and report to the Court. Peckham contends that because the trial judge appointed only one psychologist, the trial judge failed to comply with the statute. K.S.A. 1993 Supp. 22-3302(3) provides that the court shall determine the issue of competency: The court may order a psychiatric or psychological examination of the defendant. To facilitate the examination, the court may: (a) If the defendant is charged with a felony, commit the defendant to the state security hospital or any county or private institution for examination and report to the court .. .; (b) designate any appropriate psychiatric or psychological clinic, mental health center or other psychiatric or psychological facility to conduct the examination while the defendant is in jail or on pretrial release; or (c) appoint two qualified licensed physicians or licensed psychologists, or one of each, to examine the defendant and report to the court. Peckham makes two errors in his argument. First, K.S.A. 1993 Supp. 22-3302 does not make appointment of any psychologist, or even an evaluation at all, mandatory. See State v. Green, 245 Kan. 398, Syl. ¶ 8, 781 P.2d 678 (1989). Second, the record does not reflect here that the trial judge in fact appointed only one psychologist, as Peckham contends. Initially, the Sedgwick County Mental Health Department was appointed, and this would be pursuant to K.S.A. 1993 Supp. 22-3302(3)(b) (designate any appropriate psychiatric or psychological clinic, mental health center, or other psychiatric or psychological facility). Although the order does not reflect that the appointment of the Mental Health Department was rescinded, the trial judge did appoint another facility, Psychological Services Clinic, to evaluate the defendant, also pursuant to K.S.A. 1993 Supp. 22-3302(3)(b). At the competency hearing on July 17, 1992, the trial judge stated on the record that he had originally appointed Dr. Howard Brodsky to conduct the evaluation, but he had revised his order and appointed Psychological Services Clinic, a facility of which Dr. Brodsky was a member. This does show that the court initially appointed one psychologist to perform an evaluation, as Peckham contends. However, Peckham has failed to include the transcript of that earlier hearing in the record on appeal. The only record before this court includes the court's written orders appointing first the Sedgwick County Mental Health Department, and then Psychological Services Clinic, to conduct the evaluation, and the trial judge's statements concerning his recollection of the earlier hearing. The trial judge also discussed why Psychological Services Clinic, rather than the Mental Health Department, ultimately conducted the evaluation. [W]e started off appointing Sedgwick County Department of Mental Health to perform the evaluation. Which is the customary procedure here in Sedgwick County. This defendant refused to cooperate with them, refused to do any standardized tests or even to talk with their psychologist. The reason that he gave, as communicated to the Court through his attorney, was that he thought they were in cahoots with the sheriff's department, he didn't trust them, and he wasn't going to talk to any psychologist, even though it was clearly pointed out the confidentiality provisions of the statute. To accommodate this defendant, I decided to go a different way, a way which wasn't objected to by counsel at the time, and not use Sedgwick County Department of Mental Health, but to use a different facility to perform the evaluation. Now, it's true, I originally said I was appointing Dr. Brodsky to perform the evaluation; but, upon taking a closer look at the statute, I could see the same things that Mr. Rathbun brought up before he even brought them up, and that's why I started the hearing today making the record on the fact that, in actuality, I was appointing Psychological Services Clinic, which is a psychological clinic or psychological facility of which Dr. Brodsky is one of more than one doctor to perform the evaluation. And I think that that would fit into subsection 2 of the statute. And, in fact, we do have the report from the facility and it's clearly designated on the letterhead that it's from Psychological Services Clinic. The competency evaluation was done at the defendant's request, and the first facility which was appointed to conduct the evaluation pursuant to K.S.A. 1993 Supp. 22-3302(3)(b) was unable to complete the evaluation because of Peckham's refusal to cooperate. Although not the standard procedure for the court, the court did make arrangements for another evaluation to be conducted. The written order of the court appointed Psychological Services Clinic, and this is clearly consistent with K.S.A. 1993 Supp. 22-3302(3)(b). The trial court did not err.