Opinion ID: 1198134
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: waiver of defenses based on mental illness

Text: Woodland next claims that the trial court erred in failing to ensure that he knowingly and voluntarily waived his right to a mental illness defense based on diminished capacity. He maintains that in so doing, the trial court denied him the opportunity to have his sentence reduced from a specific to a general intent crime. See State v. Sessions, 645 P.2d 643 (Utah 1982) (indicating that diminished capacity is partial defense which establishes defendant's inability to form specific intent). Even though a thorough colloquy is explicitly required only for effective waiver of rights guaranteed by the constitution, Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 242-43, 89 S.Ct. 1709, 1711-12, 23 L.Ed.2d 274 (1969), the trial court held one with Woodland regarding his desire to waive his right to assert a mental illness defense. During the colloquy, Woodland indicated that in waiving his right to assert such a defense he knew that he could not call into question his mental state at the time of the shooting. The trial court further explored the reason for Woodland's decision to forgo such a defense and found that he wished to avoid the stigma associated with any mental illness-based defense. While such a decision may seem legally imprudent in light of Woodland's circumstances, the desire to `avoid the stigma that typically accompanies an adjudication of insanity  a stigma that often surpasses that accompanying a criminal conviction'  can be deemed rational. Wayne R. LaFave et al., Criminal Law § 4.5(a) n. 16 (2d ed.1986) (quoting Note, 65 Minn. L.Rev. 927, 945-46 (1981)). Furthermore, this court has already recognized a competent defendant's right to exert control over his or her defense. See Wood, 648 P.2d at 91; see also United States v. Marble, 940 F.2d 1543, 1548 (D.C.Cir.1991) (finding that court should respect competent defendant's decision not to raise mental illness defense). Therefore, Woodland should not be required to display a heightened level of competency to waive his right to a particular defense. See Godinez v. Moran, 509 U.S. 389, 113 S.Ct. 2680, 125 L.Ed.2d 321 (1993) (holding that competency standard for standing trial is same as standard for determining competency to waive right to counsel). The trial court correctly concluded that Woodland knowingly and voluntarily waived his right to assert a mental illness defense.