Opinion ID: 1730820
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Whether the trial court's finding is error?

Text: Billiot is correct that everyone, including the state's expert witnesses, agreed that a person's competency to be executed is subject to change, or perishable. Dr. Guild, one of the two state's experts who interviewed Billiot on March 22, 1988, approximately eight months prior to the competency hearing, stated that at the time of the interview, Billiot did not suffer from psychosis and that [i]t means that he is not crazy now. It does not mean that he could not have been crazy in the past or in the future. Dr. Guild stated that a man can be competent one time and then three months later, it's very possible that he will become incompetent. Dr. Stanley agreed that competency is perishable. Dr. McKinley said he could not give an opinion on Billiot's competency as he had not evaluated the man since February, 1988. Dr. McKinley would want to evaluate Billiot on the day of the hearing to make his finding of competency. Although Dr. Whelan submitted an affidavit in 1985 stating that in his opinion Billiot was competent to be executed, he would not give an opinion on the day of the hearing. He declined to do so because he had not evaluated Billiot specific to the issues in the statute for more than three years. In the opinion of Dr. Johnson, Billiot was not competent to be executed. Dr. Johnson examined Billiot at approximately the same time he was interviewed by Dr. Guild and Dr. Stanley. He also spoke with him for thirty (30) minutes the day before the hearing. The state relies on three cases for the assertion that the court properly relied on the expert witness testimony: Hill v. State, 432 So.2d 427, 437 (Miss. 1983); Wheeler v. State, 536 So.2d 1347, 1354 (Miss. 1988); and, Greenlee v. State, 437 So.2d 1010, 1012 (Miss. 1983). These cases all hold that the trial court did not commit error by refusing to order further psychiatric examination of a defendant who had already been examined and found competent to stand trial. In the Hill case the determination was made as much as several months before the trial took place. In Hill, we reasoned that the defendant must have been competent to assist his attorney because a psychologist administered a test just prior to trial, and that psychologist was not called to testify at the guilt or sentencing phases of trial. We concluded that if the psychologist had learned something beneficial he would have been called to testify. Id. at 437-38. In Wheeler, there was only a one month delay between examination and trial. In Greenlee, we noted that the judge has broad discretion in initially determining whether a competency examination and hearing is warranted. Thus the trial court's in-court determination that no further psychiatric evaluation was needed based on the defendant's demeanor, five months after the defendant had been examined and found competent to stand trial, was not error. Billiot's situation is somewhat different, but the trial court still did not commit error warranting reversal when it relied on the testimony from doctors who had interviewed Billiot eight months prior to his competency hearing. There can be no question that the delay was not ideal  the state experts agreed that Billiot's competency could change between the time he was interviewed and the time of his hearing. However, based on the case law, the trial court did not commit reversible error. It should be remembered that Billiot was required to prove that he was entitled to relief by a preponderance of the evidence. Miss. Code Ann. § 99-39-23(7) (Supp. 1993). While it is not clear from the record that the majority of the staff at Whitfield disagreed with Dr. Johnson's 1982 determination that Billiot was not responsible for his crime, Dr. Johnson did admit on cross examination that there was disagreement at Whitfield on that issue. Billiot argues that the trial judge was incorrect in finding that Dr. Maggio found Billiot to be sane in 1982. Dr. Maggio did find Billiot competent to assist his attorney and sane enough to stand trial in 1982. Billiot is right to complain that Dr. Maggio did not rely on the relevant criteria when he interviewed him to determine his competency to be executed. It is also true that at least in part the trial judge relied on Dr. Maggio's determination that Billiot was competent to be executed. However, while Dr. Maggio admitted that he did not rely on the execution statute or the Ford v. Wainwright criteria when he interviewed Billiot, he testified that he later learned of that criteria and that Billiot met it at the time of their interview. Billiot's argument that the state experts did not spend enough time with him to render opinions that he is of average intelligence is refuted by the record in that everyone who testified on the issue stated that the tests proved this fact. It was never established that Billiot does not have the ability to cooperate and assist his lawyers; rather, it was established that on two occasions he refused to cooperate in his defense. It was not clearly erroneous for the trial court to conclude: The only expert to state that Billiot was not presently competent to be executed was Dr. William Johnson. Dr. McKinley offered no opinion. The other experts stated that Billiot was competent at the time they examined him. The fact that these examinations have taken place at differing times over several years and in each instance he has been competent forces the Court to the conclusion that Billiot is presently sane and competent to be executed.... Even though Dr. Johnson was persuasive in that he had done more recent and more extensive research on the issue of Billiot's sanity, it is not error that the trial judge refused to give Dr. Johnson's testimony outcome determinative status.