Opinion ID: 1378832
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Investigation of Hill's mental competency and status.

Text: Hill claims that his trial counsel was ineffective for failure to investigate and pursue the possibility that Hill was mentally incompetent to stand trial or an insanity defense at trial due to his traumatic childhood and mental retardation. We conclude this assertion is wholly without merit. The test to determine whether one is mentally competent to stand trial is whether that person is not of sufficient mentality to be able to understand the nature of the criminal charges against him, and because of that insufficiency, is not able to aid and assist his counsel in the defense interposed upon the trial or against the pronouncement of the judgment thereafter. NRS 178.400(2); see also Dusky v. United States, 362 U.S. 402, 402, 80 S.Ct. 788, 788-89, 4 L.Ed.2d 824 (1960); Melchor-Gloria v. State, 99 Nev. 174, 179-80, 660 P.2d 109, 113 (1983). At the evidentiary hearing in this case, both Hill's trial attorneys testified that Hill did not appear to be mentally incompetent, even though they were aware that his intelligence quotient (IQ) was only 68, categorizing Hill as mildly mentally retarded. Hill's primary counsel spoke with him on several occasions, and the attorney never felt the need to investigate whether Hill was competent. He further testified that Hill assisted counsel during the trial, and they spent much time discussing trial strategy without any problems communicating. Hill's second counsel also testified at the hearing that Hill was able to grasp what was going on and could appreciate the gravity of the murder charge. Moreover, for the purposes of the petition for post-conviction relief, Hill's new counsel consulted with two psychiatrists who examined Hill. Each doctor reported that both at the time of the trial and the evidentiary hearing on the post-conviction petition, Hill had the capacity to understand the nature of the proceedings and the penalty imposed. They opined that Hill had the mental competence to assist counsel. Further, they concluded that Hill was able to form a specific intent to take a life and suffered from no extreme emotional distress which would suggest support for an insanity or diminished capacity defense. We further note that Hill's trial counsel retained a psychologist to examine Hill to provide mitigating evidence at the penalty hearing. The psychologist did not report any concern about Hill's ability to appreciate the nature of the proceedings. Accordingly, Hill has presented no evidence whatsoever, other than a low IQ, that he was either mentally incompetent to stand trial or that he met the standard for an insanity defense at the time of the murder. Therefore, we conclude that Hill's trial counsel cannot be deemed incompetent to have failed to pursue such avenues.