Opinion ID: 20704
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Details of the procedures employed by the district court

Text: 19 We now turn to the issue of whether the district court acted within these due process boundaries in resolving the question of Mata's competency. Mata wrote letters to the court, to his lawyers and to the prosecutor dropping, then later reinstating, his appeals in state court in 1991 and in February and May of 1994. In 1994, the state judge set a competency hearing and appointed Dr. Allen Childs, M.D., a psychiatrist, and Dr. Murphey, a psychologist, to evaluate Mata. After the evaluations were completed, but before the hearing in state court, Mata again changed his mind and decided to continue his appeals, whereupon the state judge canceled the competency hearing. After his state habeas petition was denied in January 1995, Mata continued to vacillate between pursuing post conviction relief in federal court and dropping his appeals. In 1996, the district court initially denied Mata's first federal habeas petition. In 1997, we reversed that decision in part and remanded Mata's Sixth Amendment fair trial claim for an evidentiary hearing. See Mata v. Johnson, 105 F.3d 209 (5th Cir. 1997). As the parties were preparing for the evidentiary hearing on the merits of the remanded claim, Mata wrote a letter to the district court abandoning his collateral attack. On July 10, 1998, Mata's attorney filed a Motion to Declare Petitioner Incompetent or, in the Alternative, to Hold a Competency Hearing. The motion related that Mata had thirty years of documented mental health problems, had made repeated suicide attempts and had engaged in numerous hunger strikes while incarcerated on death row. The motion requested that the district court declare Mata incompetent based on reports of the mental health experts appointed by the state court in 1994 who had concluded that Mata was not competent to drop his appeals, as well as extensive medical records from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The motion requested, in the alternative, that the district court hold a hearing to determine Mata's competency. The district court allowed oral argument on the motion, at which the district court characterized Mata's attorney's position as trendy and trashy psycho-analytical analysis. The district court then entered an order informing Mata that if he did not desire to abandon his habeas action, he must inform the court by July 24, 1998, and had it delivered directly to Mata, who had not been present at the hearing. On July 16, 1998, Mata filed a second letter with the court asking that his habeas action be dismissed. On July 22, 1998, the district court dismissed Mata's petition for writ of habeas corpus without ruling on the competency motion. 20 Mata's attorneys appealed on his behalf. On December 17, 1998, Mata indicated his desire to reinstate his federal collateralreview. On February 3, 1999, we remanded the case to the district court for a determination of Mata's competence on July 16, 1998 and December 17, 1998, requiring the district court to set forth not just its conclusion but its findings and reasoning in sufficient detail to allow meaningful review by this court. Mata v. Johnson, No. 98-20756 (5th Cir. 1999) (unpublished). On remand, the Respondent filed a motion requesting that the court appoint a disinterested expert to evaluate Mata's competency (1) at the present time, (2) in December 1998, and (3) in July 1998. Although Respondent advised the court that the motion was opposed, Mata's attorneys filed nothing further on the issue. Mata again wrote to the district court on July 25, 1999, urging the court grant the Respondent's motion for a competency exam, but stating that he did not want to continue with his appeals and wished to be executed as soon as possible. 21 On August 3, 1999, the district court entered findings of fact, without benefit of an expert examination of Mata or any further evidence or hearings. The district court found that Mata was competent on July 16, 1998, based on the 1985 expert reports finding him legally competent to stand trial for capital murder. The district court stated that [s]ince that time, nothing indicates that he has become incompetent. The psychological reports in the record support Mata's competence. The district court made no mention of Dr. Childs's report and conclusion to the contrary. The district court went on to find Mata competent on December 17, 1998, when he asked to reinstate his appeal, and July 25, 1999, when he again wrote the district court abandoning his legal attacks on his sentence. 22