Opinion ID: 2277667
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Required Threshold Showing

Text: No later than four days after a response to the petition is filed, the trial court shall decide if a hearing is warranted. This decision depends upon whether the prisoner has made the required threshold showing that his or her competency to be executed is genuinely in issue. See Ford, 477 U.S. at 417, 106 S.Ct. at 2605 (plurality opinion); 477 U.S. at 426, 106 S.Ct. at 2610 (Powell, J., concurring). Although a majority of the United States Supreme Court agreed in Ford that a hearing as to competency is required only when a prisoner makes a high threshold showing that competency is genuinely in issue, neither the plurality opinion nor the concurring opinion defines the precise nature of the high threshold showing, but instead left that task to the states. In defining the required showing, we begin with Ake v. Oklahoma, 470 U.S. 68, 82-83, 105 S.Ct. 1087, 1095-96, 84 L.Ed.2d 53 (1985), a case cited by Justice Powell in Ford as an example of an acceptable threshold. See Ford, 477 U.S.at 426, 106 S.Ct. at 2610. In Ake the United States Supreme Court set forth the due process standard to be applied by the states when a defendant requests appointment of a state-funded psychiatric expert. The Court in Ake held that before due process requires appointment of a defense psychiatrist at state expense, a defendant must make a substantial showing that sanity is seriously in question and would be a significant factor at trial. Ake, 470 U.S. at 82-83, 105 S.Ct. at 1095-96. Applying Ake , this Court in State v. Barnett, 909 S.W.2d 423, 431 (Tenn.1995), held that unsupported assertions that expert services are needed are insufficient to entitle a defendant to a hearing and emphasized that a defendant must demonstrate by reference to the facts and circumstances of his or her particular case that appointment of a psychiatric expert is necessary to ensure a fair trial. A similar standard is applied in Tennessee in cases where a defendant claims that he or she is incompetent to stand trial. Before a mental evaluation is required, the evidence must warrant a belief that the defendant is incompetent to stand trial. State v. West, 728 S.W.2d 32, 34 (Tenn.Crim.App.1986); State v. Lane, 689 S.W.2d 202, 204 (Tenn.Crim.App.1984). The rationale underlying the threshold requirement is twofold. First, death penalty litigation is replete with the potential for false claims and intentional delay. See, e.g. Harris, 789 P.2d at 69; Woodard v. Hutchins, 464 U.S. 377, 380, 104 S.Ct. 752, 753, 78 L.Ed.2d 541 (1984) (A pattern seems to be developing in capital cases of multiple review in which claims that could have been presented years ago are brought forwardoften in a piecemeal fashiononly after the execution date is set or becomes imminent.). Second, as previously discussed, the issue of incompetency can be repeatedly litigated by the same prisoner because until the very moment of execution the prisoner can claim that he or she has become incompetent sometime after the previous determination to the contrary. Ford, 477 U.S. at 429, 106 S.Ct. at 2612 (O'Connor, J., concurring in the result in part, dissenting in part). As the Washington Supreme Court recognized, [t]he death row inmate has an obvious incentive to make a last-minute claim of insanity. Without a substantial threshold requirement, the eleventh hour petitions asserting insanity would be encouraged because the death row petitioner would know that the mere filing of a conclusory petition would result in a stay of execution. Placing no initial burden on the petitioner is an invitation to specious insanity claims. Harris, 789 P.2d at 69. Therefore, we adopt a rule that places the burden on the prisoner to make a threshold showing that he or she is presently incompetent. This burden may be met by the submission of affidavits, depositions, medical reports, or other credible evidence sufficient to demonstrate that there exists a genuine question regarding petitioner's present competency. In most circumstances, the affidavits, depositions, or medical reports attached to the prisoner's petition should be from psychiatrists, psychologists, or other mental health professionals. Id. If the trial court is satisfied there exists a genuine disputed issue regarding the prisoner's present competency, then a hearing should be held. Harris, 789 P.2d at 69-70. We emphasize that the proof required to meet the threshold showing must relate to present incompetency. Therefore, by definition, at least some of the evidence submitted must be the result of recent mental evaluations or observations of the prisoner. The threshold can not be satisfied if the only evidence offered is stale in the sense that it relates to the prisoner's distant past competency or incompetency. We also note that the unsupported conclusory assertions of a family member of the prisoner or an attorney representing the prisoner will ordinarily be insufficient to satisfy the required threshold showing.