Opinion ID: 20704
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Constitutionally adequate procedures

Text: 11 Although we have located no controlling precedent, we find that jurisprudence developed in the context of waiver of due process safeguards and related competency questions in criminal trial proceedings instructive. We start from the proposition that the conviction of a legally incompetent 2 defendant violates constitutional due process. See Pate v. Robinson, 383 U.S. 375, 378 (1966). A habeas petitioner may, on collateral review of his state conviction, obtain relief if he can show that the state procedures were inadequate to ensure that he was competent to stand trial, for example if the trial court failed to conduct a competency hearing. See Carter v. Johnson, 131 F.3d 452, 459 n.10 (5th Cir. 1997)(citing Pate v. Robinson, 383 U.S. 375). A state court must conduct an inquiry into the defendant's mental capacity sua sponte if the evidence raises a bona fide doubt as to competency. See id. In determining whether there is a bona fide doubt as to the defendant's competence, the court considers:(1) any history of irrational behavior, (2) the defendant's demeanor at trial, and (3) any prior medical opinion on competency. See Davis v. Alabama, 545 F.2d 460, 464 (5th Cir. 1977). If the trial court received evidence, viewed objectively, that should have raised a reasonable doubt as to competency, yet failed to make further inquiry, the defendant has been denied a fair trial. See Carter, 131 F.3d at 459 n.10. 12 Assuming, arguendo, that a court has not received evidence raising a bona fide doubt as to competency, Supreme Court jurisprudence nonetheless mandates that courts indulge every reasonable presumption against waiver of fundamental constitutional rights. See Hodges v. Easton, 106 U.S. 408, 412 (1982). Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U.S. 458 (1938), the classic case delineating the standard for measuring an effective waiver of a constitutional right, requires that a waiver be an intentional relinquishment or abandonment of a known right. The Supreme Court refined the Johnson standard in Brady v. United States, 397 U.S. 742 (1970), by requiring that valid waivers be not only voluntary but also knowing, intelligent acts done with sufficient awareness of the relevant circumstances and likely consequences. Id. at 748. The cases draw no distinction between waiver of the right to remain silent during interrogation, the right to confer with counsel, the right to representation by competent counsel at trial, the right to contest accusations of criminality through a plea of not guilty, the right to trial by jury and the right to be present at trial. See United States v. Garcia, 517 F.2d 272, 276 (5th Cir. 1975). From the courts' applications of these constraints to the waiver of a wide range of constitutional protections, we infer that similar constraints are appropriate in the case at bar. 13 Applying the rationale employed in Pate and Carter to the question of whether a death row inmate is competent to drop his collateral attack on his convictionand sentence, we conclude that a habeas court must conduct an inquiry into the defendant's mental capacity, either sua sponte or in response to a motion by petitioner's counsel, if the evidence raises a bona fide doubt as to his competency. See id. The extent and severity of the petitioner's history of mental health problems which have been brought to the court's attention influence the breadth and depth of the competency inquiry required. In Drope v. Missouri, 420 U.S. 162 (1975), a criminal defendant claimed that he had been deprived of due process of law by the failure of the trial court to order a psychiatric examination to determine his competence to stand trial for forcible rape of his wife, a capital offense. Drope's attorney moved for a continuance of the trial in order that petitioner might be examined and receive psychiatric treatment. Id. at 164. Treatment had been suggested by a psychiatrist who had examined petitioner at his counsel's request and whose report was attached to the motion.See id. at 165. The trial court denied the continuance. At trial, Drope's wife testified that Drope had tried to choke her the night before the trial commenced. The second morning of trial, Drope attempted suicide by shooting himself in the abdomen. The trial judge denied Drope's counsel's motion for mistrial, finding that Drope had waived his right to be present at his capital trial, because his absence was due to his own voluntary act in shooting himself. Id. at 902. The Supreme Court reversed, concluding that when considered together with the information available prior to trial and the testimony of petitioner's wife at trial, the . . . suicide attempt created a sufficient doubt of his competence to stand trial to require further inquiry on the question. Id. at 180. Drope teaches that, in order to adequately protect the petitioner's due process rights, the correct course was to suspend the trial until [a psychiatric] evaluation could be made. Id. 14 Following Drope, the Fifth Circuit has held that a suicide attempt, by itself, is not necessarily sufficient to create reasonable cause for a competency hearing. State v. Davis, 61 F.3d 291, 304 (5th Cir. 1995). Instead, that evidence must be weighed in conjunction with all other evidence presented with respect to a defendant's mental stability and competence. See id. 15 The opportunity for face-to-face dialogue between the court and the petitioner and the ability of the court to personally observe the petitioner is likewise important to the equation. The Supreme Court held that Drope's absence from trial after the suicide attempt bore on its analysis, in that the trial judge and defense counsel were no longer able to observe him in the context of the trial and to gauge from his demeanor whether he was able to cooperate with his attorney and to understand the nature and object of the proceedings against him. Drope, 420 U.S. at 181. The Fifth Circuit has instructed that a district court, faced with a criminal defendant who wishes to waive his right to a conflict-free defense attorney, should follow a procedure akin to that promulgated in rule 11 [of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure] whereby the defendant's voluntariness and knowledge of the consequences of a guilty plea will be manifest on the face of the record. United States v. Garcia, 517 F.2d 272, 278 (5th Cir. 1975). The trial court was directed to scrupulously and carefully evaluate the defendant's effort to waive his constitutional rights and to actively participate in the waiver decision. Id. at 277. As in Rule 11 procedures, the district court should address each defendant personally and forthrightly advise him of the potential dangers of representation by counsel with a conflict of interest. The defendant must be at liberty to question the district court as to the nature and consequences of his legal representation. Id. at 278. The court should seek to elicit a narrative response from the defendant that he has been advised of his rights, that he understands the details and has discussed thematter with his attorney, and that he wishes to waive his constitutional protections. See id. 16 The district court, of course, retains discretion to determine the best course of action in each particular case. For instance, in some cases an expert report already in the record may be sufficiently current that a new examination is not necessary, or a court may be able to decide the issue on documents without taking live testimony. In any event, the procedures employed must satisfy basic due process concerns. In sum, if the evidence before the district court raises a bona fide issue of petitioner's competency to waive collateral review of a capital conviction and death sentence, the court can afford such petitioner adequate due process by ordering and reviewing a current examination by a qualified medical or mental health expert, allowing the parties to present any other evidence relevant to the question of competency and, on the record and in open court, questioning the petitioner concerning the knowing and voluntary nature of his decision to waive further proceedings. 17