Opinion ID: 1182062
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Competency Determination

Text: In March 1985, defendant's counsel expressed doubt that defendant was competent to stand trial. The trial court suspended criminal proceedings in accordance with section 1368 and appointed Dr. Charles Davis and, at defendant's request, Dr. Paul Levy to examine defendant. Dr. Levy concluded defendant was incompetent and unable to cooperate in preparing a defense; Dr. Davis observed defendant was hostile and uncooperative and expressed the view he was either feigning mental illness or suffering from a psychosis of undetermined etiology. A third expert, Dr. Hedburg, was then appointed to examine defendant; he found defendant competent to stand trial at a borderline level. The trial court denied the prosecutor's request for a jury trial on the issue of competence, but the Court of Appeal issued a writ of mandate determining the People had a statutory right to jury trial. ( People v. Superior Court ( McPeters ) (1985) 169 Cal. App.3d 796 [215 Cal. Rptr. 482].) In October 1985, Dr. Levy again examined defendant and, based on his four examinations of defendant in 1984 and 1985, issued a new report finding him in a state of excellent and complete remission from any overtly psychotic symptoms and mentally competent to stand trial. He found no evidence of thought disorder, psychotic process, delusions or hallucinations, organic brain syndrome, or psychological depression or anxiety. After receiving Dr. Levy's report, the trial court, at the prosecutor's request, appointed Dr. Davis to reexamine defendant. Dr. Davis issued a two-part report, the first part concerning defendant's mental state at the time of the crime and the second concluding defendant was presently competent to stand trial. At the time appointed for the hearing on the issue of competence, the prosecutor and defense counsel stipulated the matter would be presented to the court for determination based on the most recent reports of Drs. Levy and Davis. Based on those reports, the court found defendant competent to stand trial and reinstated the criminal proceedings against him. (1) Defendant maintains the above procedure violated his statutory and state and federal constitutional due process rights by depriving him of a full, trial-type, adversary hearing on the issue of his competence to stand trial. To the contrary, the procedure adopted by counsel and the court did not deprive defendant of any of his rights. Section 1368 entitles defendant to a hearing on the issue of competence and he received one. Although defendant's counsel, for understandable reasons, elected to waive certain available incidents of the hearing procedure, i.e., the right to jury trial and the rights to present oral testimony and to confront and cross-examine witnesses, defendant presented evidence and received an independent judicial determination of his competence to stand trial based on the stipulated record. ( People v. Cisneros (1973) 34 Cal. App.3d 399, 406-407 [110 Cal. Rptr. 269].) Defendant cites no authority holding that submission to the court of the issue of competence to stand trial based on psychiatric reports is per se unconstitutional or a violation of statute. Because defendant had a hearing and does not show it was in any significant way incomplete or unfair, we reject his contention. [1]