Opinion ID: 669740
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: An Appropriate Examination

Text: 32 The inappropriateness of the available psychiatric examination was the key issue triggering the Ake decision. Ake, 470 U.S. at 72, 105 S.Ct. at 1090-91 (Ake had been examined for competency to stand trial, but not for his sanity at the time of the offense). As Ake explains, due process requires access to an expert who will conduct, not just any, but an appropriate examination. Id. at 83, 105 S.Ct. at 1096. We find that Starr's exam was inappropriate because it did not delve into the mitigating questions essential to Starr. As the Arkansas Supreme Court has recognized, the issue of mitigation, or diminished capacity, is different from that of guilt, Neal v. State, 274 Ark. 217, 623 S.W.2d 191, 193. The Arkansas Supreme Court has also noted that the exam and report statutorily mandated in Arkansas at the time of Starr's trial, and which Starr received, is obviously not broad enough to cover everything a defendant might raise as a 'mental defect' basis of mitigation. Coulter v. State, 304 Ark. 527, 804 S.W.2d 348, 356, cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 102, 116 L.Ed.2d 72 (1991). In Coulter, the defendant was not prejudiced by the trial court's denial of funds to procure the requisite Ake expert assistance to aid in the presentation of mitigating evidence because his appointed defense counsel had generously procured the needed expert with his own funds. Id. Starr was not so lucky. 33 We agree with the Arkansas Supreme Court that a report on the four statutorily mandated items 6 does not suffice to cover everything a defendant might raise as a mental defect in mitigation and for which an Ake expert is required. In Starr's case, the examination merely found Starr to be: 34 aware of the nature of the charges and the proceedings taken against him. He is capable of cooperating effectively with an attorney in the preparation of his defense. 35 At the time of the commission of the alleged offense, the defendant did not lack the capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law. 36 State Trial Transcript at 54. These conclusions can only establish that Starr is criminally responsible for his acts, not the degree of such responsibility. The difference between Starr's perceptions of the probable results of the acts he committed and those of a person of normal mental capabilities, a crucial issue for Starr, was not addressed either by the report or the underlying examination. The issue was crucial because in our system of criminal justice acts committed by a morally mature person with full appreciation of all their ramifications and eventualities are considered more culpable than those committed by a person without that appreciation. See Penry, 492 U.S. at 322-23, 109 S.Ct. at 2948-49; Ford v. Wainwright, 477 U.S. 399, 406-10, 106 S.Ct. 2595, 2600-02, 91 L.Ed.2d 335 (1986); Kerrin M. McCormick, The Constitutional Right to Psychiatric Assistance: Cause for Reexamination of Ake, 30 Amer.Crim.L.J. 1329, 1336 (1993). For this reason, Starr needed an expert to make an appropriate examination and to explain the effects of his retardation on his relative culpability at the sentencing phase of the proceedings. 7 37 The inadequacy of the examination is illustrated by the testimony of the examining psychologist. The psychologist testified that Starr was mildly retarded, but was unable to explain to the jury the level of Starr's social and intellectual functioning because his tests had not dealt with that. Nor was he able to interpret or explain the results of previous mental health tests, which assigned Starr the mental age of a six or seven year old, because he was not familiar with the methodology of those tests. Nor could he explain what it meant, in either psychological or lay terms, for an adult male to have the mental age of seven. The state psychologist apologized, on the record, for his inability to meet the defense's needs. At best, he could explain that Starr was in the lower one percent of the population in intelligence and was obviously not a genius. 8 Thus we find that Starr was denied the appropriate examination to which due process entitled him. 38