Opinion ID: 2428000
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Additional Psychiatric Examination

Text: The appellant next asserts that the psychiatric evaluation performed by a psychiatrist, Dr. William James, at the Southeast Arkansas Mental Health Center was incomplete due primarily to the fact that he did not have the benefit of Brooks' prior criminal and medical records, including his psychiatric record, in making his evaluation. Dr. James concluded that the appellant had an antisocial personality disorder and suffered from substance abuse but possessed a culpable mental state at the time of the crimes. His report stated: On the basis of this examination and Mr. Brooks' comments in the intoxicated state in which he apparently chose to place himself by means of the alcohol and other drug consumption, he may have been unable to conform to the requirements of the law at the time of the alleged conduct. Nevertheless, Mr. Brooks does state in the interview that he is opposed to rape and don't believe in that. Mr. Brooks was, by virtue of his voluntary consumption of intoxicating substances, in a culpable mental state at the time of the offense charged on the basis of the apparently very complex act that he states occurred which involved stabbing Ms. Wright three or four times and detaining her forcibly in the automobile, where Mr. Brooks states he was apprehended and arrested. The circuit court ruled that the psychiatrist had found the appellant sane and had then gone forward and commented on the legal point that even if the appellant was voluntarily intoxicated at the time of the crimes, this was not a defense. The court refused a second evaluation. This decision was correct. The appellant's first examination was by a psychiatrist at a regional mental health center which the applicable statute specifically permits. See Ark.Code Ann. § 5-2-305 (1987). Dr. James's report explicitly refers to the appellant's history of substance abuse, incarceration for delinquency, and psychiatric problems. We hold that though Dr. James may not have had before him the full medical, psychiatric, and delinquency records of the appellant, his report substantially complies with the requirements of state law as set out in Ark.Code Ann. § 5-2-305(d) 1-4. See Beard v. State, 306 Ark. 546, 816 S.W.2d 860 (1991); see also, Ball v. State, 278 Ark. 423, 646 S.W.2d 693 (1983). The circuit court did not err on this point.