Opinion ID: 857090
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Competence to enter the plea

Text: Similarly, we cannot find a due process violation in the plea based on Warren’s alleged lack of mental capacity. Again, we look at “all of the relevant circumstances surrounding” the plea. See Brady v. United States, 397 U.S. 742, 749 (1970). Here, Warren does not allege that he actually lacked the capacity to enter a knowing and voluntary plea, however, and offers no evidence other than Dr. Rawski’s report on the issue. Instead, he argues that he was denied due process because his capacity was not determined and the report raises “serious questions.” (Appellant’s Br. at 35.) Warren “might not” have been competent to enter his plea as he argues, (id. at 36), but given all of the available evidence (including Dr. Rawski’s report), that possibility appears very unlikely. To recap: Dr. Rawski described Warren as “articulate” and “goal-directed” and stated that Warren’s “[c]ognition was intact.” (R. 21-3 at 58.) Warren ably participated throughout the legal proceedings. As Warren correctly notes, due process requires a court to order a competency hearing when there is “bona fide doubt as to the defendant’s competency.” Burt, 422 F.3d at 564. We cannot find any such doubt in the evidence Warren presents. Some theoretical uncertainty is not enough to form the basis of a due process violation.