Opinion ID: 2277667
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Initiation of a Competency Proceeding

Text: Having delineated the standard for determining competency to be executed, we must next delineate the appropriate forum for asserting incompetency and the time at which the issue is ripe for determination. Under the common law, [a]n inquisition to determine the mental condition of a person convicted of crime and under sentence of death, who, it was alleged had become insane since the rendition of judgment, was ... under the control of the trial court. 4 Blackstone's Com. p. 395; Nobles v. Georgia, 168 U.S. 398, 18 S.Ct. 87, 42 L.Ed. 515. The prisoner's guilt had been finally established prior to such application, and the plea, based on his alleged insanity subsequently contracted, was an appeal to the humanity of the court to postpone his execution. Laros v. Commonwealth, 84 Pa. 200. The trial court alone decided when such an inquisition was warranted. People v. Preston, 345 Ill. 11, 177 N.E. 761, 763 (1931). See also Nobles, 168 U.S. at 407, 18 S.Ct. at 91; People v. Eldred, 103 Colo. 334, 86 P.2d 248, 250 (1938); Bingham v. State, 82 Okla.Crim. 305, 169 P.2d 311, 314 (1946); 88 Yale L.J. at 535-537 (1979). The common law rule giving the trial court sole authority to determine the issue of competency was logical in view of the fact that in cases tried at common law execution often followed fairly quickly after trial, so that incompetence at the time of execution was linked as a practical matter with incompetence at the trial itself. Ford, 477 U.S. at 420-21, 106 S.Ct. at 2607 (Powell, J., concurring). Execution does not currently follow quickly after trial. Modern practice provides for more extensive review of convictions and sentences, including not only direct appeal, but also both state and federal post-conviction proceedings. See id. at 420, 106 S.Ct. at 2607. These proceedings often are not concluded until several years after a prisoner was tried and sentenced to death. Until the very moment of execution, the issue of a prisoner's competency to be executed can never be conclusively and finally determined. Ford, 477 U.S. at 429, 106 S.Ct. at 2612 (O'Connor, J., concurring in the result in part and dissenting in part) (emphasis in original). Therefore, the issue of competency to be executed is generally not considered ripe for determination until execution is imminent. [11] In Tennessee, execution is imminent only when a prisoner sentenced to death has unsuccessfully pursued all state and federal remedies for testing the validity and correctness of the prisoner's conviction and sentence and this Court has set an execution date upon motion of the State Attorney General. [12] Given existing practice, we conclude that a prisoner should raise the issue of competency to be executed in the first instance in this Court when filing a written response to the motion of the State Attorney General to set an execution date. The prisoner will have ten days from the filing of the motion of the State Attorney General to file a response and raise this issue. See Tenn. R.App. P. 22(a). This Court will not make a determination of the issue, and asserting the issue will not constitute grounds for denying the State Attorney General's motion. To the contrary, the issue will be ripe for determination only when the motion is granted and an execution date is set. However, in the order setting the execution date, this Court will remand the issue of competency to be executed to the trial court where the prisoner was originally tried and sentenced for a determination of the issue. [13] See Harris, 789 P.2d at 70 (holding that proper venue for determining competency to be executed is the trial court where prisoner was convicted and sentenced).