Opinion ID: 1119859
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Defendant's Motion to Stay This Appeal Pending a Determination of His Current Competency

Text: (41) In a separate motion, defendant contends he is currently incompetent to cooperate with his counsel, and seeks a stay of all postjudgment proceedings in this case and the appointment of a referee to determine his competency. He asks that the stay remain in effect until such time, if ever, that he regains his competency. Attached to the motion are the declarations of a psychiatrist, a physician, a therapist, defendant's mother, and three of his current attorneys, and copies of medical records from San Quentin State Prison. We have doubts about the sufficiency of defendant's factual showing. Defendant has recently hired a new battery of experts who support his claim of incompetency. However, defendant's mental state is not a question of first impression. Defendant had a jury trial on the question of his sanity at the time of the offenses. Several experts examined him on this point, and the jury found him sane. During trial, the proceedings were delayed while defendant's competency to stand trial was litigated. The court appointed various experts to examine defendant. They unanimously found him competent, and the court made the factual determination that he was competent. A massive record regarding defendant's mental state thus already exists, including opinions reached by neutral experts not chosen by either side. Defendant's current factual allegations are similar in some respects to those that occasioned the prior competency hearing, including alleged bizarre behavior on defendant's part. Indeed, defendant now seems to assert that he was incompetent at trial as well as now, without acknowledging that that question was litigated and resolved adversely to him. For example, Dr. Lewis, the psychiatrist defendant relies on most heavily, found evidence that his mental condition now is similar to what it was at and subsequent to the time of his trial in San Bernardino. Defendant ignores this extensive history. His new experts do not attempt to explain whether or why they disagree with the court-appointed experts, or what has happened in the interim to render the prior findings invalid, or even whether the prior reports were made available to them. The declaration of Dr. Lewis indicates, for example, that defense counsel provided her with declarations by new experts which support the claim of incompetency, but she was apparently given none of the reports of the court-appointed experts who had examined defendant for the identical purpose. It is not clear whether Dr. Lewis was even aware that she was revisiting well-trodden territory. Defendant's attempt to evaluate his mental condition anew, but only with experts of his choosing given only selective information, also of his choosing, is not persuasive. Defendant should confront the past findings. New witnesses should be made aware of, and should consider, contrary opinions, especially those by neutral experts. They should explain what new evidence or substantial change in circumstances exists to cast a serious doubt on the validity of the prior finding of competency. (See People v. Jones, supra, 53 Cal.3d at pp. 1152-1153.) Simply finding new experts and ignoring the past is not sufficient. We do not, however, rely on any inadequacy in the factual showing in denying the motion. We believe the appeal can proceed even if defendant has become incompetent. Section 1367 provides in pertinent part that A person cannot be tried or adjudged to punishment while such person is mentally incompetent. Section 1368, subdivision (a), establishes a procedure to follow if a doubt arises as to defendant's competency during the pendency of an action and prior to judgment. ... (Italics added.) This language clearly indicates the Legislature did not prohibit postjudgment proceedings even if the defendant is incompetent. Similarly, a defendant has a constitutional right not to be tried while incompetent ( Drope v. Missouri (1975) 420 U.S. 162 [43 L.Ed.2d 103, 95 S.Ct. 896]), but no case has extended this right to the appeal. A state may also not constitutionally execute an insane person. ( Ford v. Wainwright (1986) 477 U.S. 399 [91 L.Ed.2d 335, 106 S.Ct. 2595].) California has its own statutory procedure for determining whether a person is insane for purposes of execution. (ง 3700.5 et seq.; see People v. Riley (1951) 37 Cal.2d 510 [235 P.2d 381].) [11] But nothing in Ford or the statutes suggest that litigation regarding the validity of the judgment of death cannot continue even if the defendant is presently insane. Defendant contends that his right to meaningful appellate review and right to the effective assistance of counsel under the state and federal Constitutions preclude proceeding with the appeal if he is incompetent. We disagree. The United States Supreme Court has not specifically decided this question, but has done so by implication. In Whitmore v. Arkansas (1990) 495 U.S. 149 [109 L.Ed.2d 135, 110 S.Ct. 1717], the high court held that a person has standing to bring a next friend challenge to a judgment of death only in limited circumstances. A next friend must show that the real party in interest is unable to litigate his own cause due to mental incapacity, lack of access to court, or other similar disability. ( Id. at p. 165 [109 L.Ed.2d at p. 151, 110 S.Ct. at p. 1728], italics added.) The emphasized language implies that mental incompetence, although a basis for allowing next friend standing to challenge the judgment, does not require cessation of postjudgment proceedings. Here, of course, next friend status is unnecessary, since defendant is fully represented by counsel who can protect his interests. The Arizona Supreme Court recently confronted this question in a capital case. In State v. White (Ariz. 1991) 815 P.2d 869, 878, the court, agreeing with the Michigan Court of Appeals in People v. Newton (1986) 152 Mich. App. 630 [394 N.W.2d 463], vacated on other grounds (1987) 428 Mich. 855 [399 N.W.2d 28], a noncapital case, refused to order a mental examination after the defendant made a prima facie showing of incompetency to assist in the appeal. The court noted the American Bar Association's position, as expressed in the ABA Criminal Justice Mental Health Standards (1989). Standard 7-5.4 (c) provides that: `Mental incompetence of the defendant during the time of appeal shall be considered adequate cause, upon a showing of prejudice, to permit the defendant to voice, in a later appeal or action for postconviction relief, any matter not raised on the initial appeal because of the defendant's incompetence.' (Emphasis added.) The Standard contemplates that an appeal proceed despite a defendant's incompetence to assist the appeal. `[C]onvicted defendants, like parties to appellate litigation in general, do not participate in appeal proceedings.' Id., Commentary Introduction. Therefore `mental incompetence rarely affects the fairness or accuracy of decisions.' Id. Defendant was not denied due process of law. ( State v. White, supra, at p. 878.) We agree with State v. White, supra, 815 P.2d 869. The considerations that prohibit an incompetent person from being tried ( Drope v. Missouri, supra, 420 U.S. 162; ง 1367), do not apply after the judgment. The issues on appeal are limited to the appellate record. ( People v. Szeto (1981) 29 Cal.3d 20, 35 [171 Cal. Rptr. 652, 623 P.2d 213].) An appeal involves only legal issues based on that record. Attorneys do not need to rely on the defendant himself to decide what issues are worthy of pursuit. Furthermore, At trial, a defendant is confronted with the prosecutorial forces of organized society and immersed in the intricacies of the substantive and procedural law. A defendant who is not competent to assist trial counsel in presenting an adequate defense may be unjustly convicted because he lacks competence to respond to the criminal accusations against him. A post-conviction proceeding, on the other hand, is not part of the criminal process itself; it is a collateral attack on the judgment and is considered civil in nature.... The defendant's guilt or innocence is not at issue; rather, a post-conviction proceeding is a new proceeding in which the petitioner raises constitutional challenges to the original conviction which have not already been adjudicated. ( People v. Owens (1990) 139 Ill.2d 351 [151 Ill.Dec 522, 564 N.E.2d 1184, 1189], citations omitted.) We thus see no reason why the appeal may not proceed even if the defendant is incompetent as long as he is represented by able counsel, as this defendant is. Defendant has moved to stay all postjudgment proceedings. Since none are currently pending other than this appeal, there is nothing else to stay. Arguably the situation is different regarding potential habeas corpus challenges, which may be based on matters outside the appellate record. (Cf. People v. Owens, supra, 564 N.E.2d 1184.) We cannot rule on the question in a vacuum. We suspect that most, if not all, potential challenges in a habeas corpus proceeding could be made without additional input from defendant. Current defense counsel have access to the appellate record, to investigators, to trial counsel's case files, and to the knowledge and experience of trial counsel. As suggested in State v. White, supra, 815 P.2d at page 878, defendant's alleged incompetency might be grounds for the untimely raising of an issue if it could not have been raised earlier because of that incompetency. The prohibition against executing an insane person provides additional protection for someone who, because of incompetency, was unable to pursue a meritorious challenge to the judgment. For these reasons, current counsel can and should seek to challenge the judgment even if defendant is currently incompetent. If, in a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, counsel make a specific showing why specified contentions require defendant's ability to cooperate, and why the necessary information cannot be obtained from other sources, we will consider the question at that time. Additionally, if a prima facie showing is made on any contention, and an evidentiary hearing is ordered, defendant may raise the question of his competence to participate in the evidentiary hearing at that time. We therefore deny defendant's motion to stay these appellate proceedings.