Opinion ID: 2062499
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Competency of Logan

Text: Carter claims the court erred in allowing Logan to testify without obtaining a psychiatric evaluation of him and conducting a hearing on his competency. During the defense case-in-chief, Carter called Dr. Kenneth Weissert, the psychiatrist who had been treating Logan at the Indiana Youth Center. Weissert testified that Logan suffered from extreme anxiety and depression and that he had attempted suicide. Outside the presence of the jury, the doctor stated that he had not attempted to determine Logan's competency as a witness and could not testify in that regard. Carter did not request a psychiatric examination of Logan or a competency hearing at any time before or during trial. Hence, he has waived this issue. Bing v. State (1966), 248 Ind. 30, 221 N.E.2d 886. Carter is incorrect in claiming fundamental error from the trial court's failure to order sua sponte a psychiatric examination of Logan after hearing Weissert's testimony. All witnesses over the age of nine are presumed to be competent witnesses, and unsoundness of mind does not render a witness incompetent per se. The test is whether the witness has sufficient mental capacity to perceive, to remember, and to narrate the incident he has observed and to understand and appreciate the nature and obligation of an oath. Ware v. State (1978), 268 Ind. 563, 376 N.E.2d 1150. Logan related the two robberies in great detail. His testimony was corroborated by other witnesses, and there is no evidence that Logan did not understand the obligation of an oath. Logan's competency was not open to serious question.