Opinion ID: 1257576
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Directed Verdict on the Issue of Competence

Text: The trial on the issue of mental competency contemplated by OCGA § 17-7-130 (a) (Code Ann. § 27-1502) is in the nature of a civil proceeding and the defendant has the burden to prove incompetency by a preponderance of the evidence. Baker v. State, 250 Ga. 187, 189 (297 SE2d 9) (1982). The issue raised is whether the defendant is capable of understanding the nature and object of the proceedings, whether he comprehends his own condition in reference to such proceedings, and whether he is capable of rendering his attorney assistance with his defense. Brown v. State, 215 Ga. 784, 787 (113 SE2d 618) (1960). The state contends that a directed verdict in its favor was proper because no witness testified directly that Lindsey was incompetent at the time of trial while one witness, Sheriff Forrest, testified that Lindsey was competent, based upon his observations of Lindsey since his arrest and up to the time of the trial. The state notes, moreover, that the medical testimony presented was based upon observations many months prior to trial. However, a directed verdict is proper only where there is no conflict in the evidence as to any material issue and the evidence introduced, with all reasonable deductions therefrom, shall demand a particular verdict ... OCGA § 9-11-50 (a) (Code Ann. § 81A-50). (Emphasis supplied.) Thus, the question is not on whose behalf the evidence preponderates, it is whether a verdict is demanded as a matter of law. Shockey v. Baker, 212 Ga. 106, 108 (3) (90 SE2d 654) (1955). Evidence was presented that, on numerous occasions, Lindsey had been committed to mental hospitals; that he had been diagnosed as paranoid, psychotic, and as a paranoid schizophrenic; that he had on more than one occasion been prescribed strong antipsychotic drugs; that he had refused to talk with his attorneys or to cooperate with an attempted psychiatric evaluation; and that he had no reaction to important news regarding a trial in which his life was at stake. The jury may well have deduced from the evidence as a whole that Lindsey was competent, but we cannot agree with the state that the evidence demanded such a finding, or that the issue should have been withdrawn from the jury. Lindsey's first enumeration of error, in which he contends that the trial court erred by directing a verdict on the issue of competence to stand trial, is meritorious.