Court Opinion

ID: 9567987
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 19:59:30.463198+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:24:08.799363
License: Public Domain

STRUBHAR, Vice Presiding Judge,
dissenting:
I concur that this matter must be reversed and remanded for resentencing because Appellant was precluded from introducing mental health evidence that served to mitigate punishment. The uniqueness of the death penalty demands that material defense mitigation witnesses not be excluded. See Wisdom v. State, 918 P.2d 384 (Okl.Cr.1996).
However, I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that Appellant’s conviction must be reversed and remanded for a new trial. Appellant was found competent to stand trial at two post-examination competency hearings. After being found competent but prior to trial, Appellant requested that he be allowed to represent himself. The trial court granted Appellant’s motion but later reversed itself.1 Appellant petitioned this Court for a writ of mandamus and argued that he had a constitutional right to represent himself and that he had voluntarily and intelligently waived his right to counsel. This Court granted the writ of mandamus allowing Appellant to represent himself at trial stating that Appellant had the right to defend himself and that his choice was made “knowingly and intelligently.”
A defendant who proceeds pro se is held to the same standard as an attorney. Bowen v. State, 606 P.2d 589, 594 (Okl.Cr.1980). The record before us shows that Appellant was competent and that he voluntarily and knowingly waived his right to counsel. As such, the trial court was required to hold Appellant acting pro se to the same standard as any other licensed attorney.
Title 22 O.S.1991, § 1176 requires a defendant to file a written application at least twenty (20) days before trial if he intends to use the insanity defense. As the majority opinion states, Appellant’s intent to plead insanity was known well in advance of trial because Appellant advised that he intended to raise an insanity defense at his arraignment hearing, in several motions, and at several other hearings before trial. Even though Appellant had stated that he intended to pursue an insanity defense, he, acting as his own counsel, was responsible for filing the Section 1176 application which he failed to do. Since this application was never filed, the presumption arose that Appellant elected not to call a mental health expert to testify on his behalf. Because Appellant failed to file the proper application, he waived his right to call any mental health expert to substantiate his insanity defense. Accordingly, the trial court properly ruled that the testimony of Appellant’s mental health expert could not be introduced in the first stage of trial.2
Because Appellant knowingly accepted the burdens of representing himself, it is my opinion that the trial court did not err in holding Appellant to the standards of a licensed attorney. Appellant was required to file an appropriate application before he could call a mental health expert to substantiate his insanity defense. Appellant did not do so and thus waived his right to introduce testimony by a mental health expert.
*939For the reasons stated above, I respectfully dissent.

. The trial court reversed its decision to allow Appellant to represent himself finding that it would delay the trial, that Appellant's conduct had been totally disruptive thus far, and that he had made unreasonable demands for resources and supplies to represent himself.

. On the second day of trial, Appellant advised the trial court that the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System had retained a mental health expert to examine him. The State objected arguing that Appellant had failed to comply with Section 1176.