Opinion ID: 2452857
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Pretrial Motion to Bar Hicks' Testimony

Text: Hall also asserts that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to competently litigate a pretrial motion to bar Hicks' testimony on the grounds that she was not competent to testify. Hall's counsel filed a motion to suppress Hicks' testimony, alleging that Hicks was incompetent to testify because of drug use and treatments for mental disorders. The trial court overruled that motion. At Hall's trial, his counsel called two doctors to the stand to testify about Hicks' drug use and about her exposure to electroconvulsive therapy and drug treatment for mental disorders. At the evidentiary hearing Hall produced testimony of doctors who evaluated Hicks, but Hall was unable to establish through their testimony that Hicks was not competent to testify. Dr. Rose Buckner, a clinical psychologist, conducted a clinical interview and administered psychological evaluations to Hicks in August 1993. Dr. Buckner testified that Hicks suffered from depression and anxiety, but that she was not psychotic or in any way out of touch with reality. Dr. Shirley Taylor reviewed Dr. Buckner's report. Both Dr. Buckner and Dr. Taylor testified that Hicks' evaluation could not predict whether Hicks had lied or was likely to lie during Hall's trial. The motion court did not err in finding that Hall's counsel was not ineffective for failing to call these expert witnesses. Point denied.