Court Opinion

ID: 9490593
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 13:48:18.082789+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:54:11.588017
License: Public Domain

Judge Lucero, Circuit Judge,
with whom Baldock and Kelly, Circuit Judges, join, dissenting.
In my view, United States v. Cheama, 730 F.2d 1383 (10th Cir.1984), was correctly decided. In insisting upon a “final disposition of the competency issue before an appeal may lie,” Judge Doyle, writing for the Cheama panel, acknowledged that a commitment order is a collateral order reviewable under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. Id. at 1385. He insisted on final determination of the competency issue based on the practical consideration that an appeal would disrupt proceedings during *1350the evaluation period by temporarily divesting the trial court of jurisdiction to act further.
That practical consideration remains today in full force. Except in cases where a stay is granted, the unavoidable consequence in allowing an appeal of a step-two temporary confinement order will be to prolong, not shorten, a committed defendant’s evaluative detention. The majority’s approach may appear to protect the rights of defendants in Mr. Boigegrain’s position, but in actuality has a counter effect. Inevitably, the appeal process — from the notice of appeal and filing of briefs to final disposition by the court — will take longer than the period of temporary confinement. We could attempt to shorten the process by evaluating promptly in forma pauperis cases for frivolousness, but we are unable to do so because we still have to see briefs on the merits to make that determination — the four-month period of temporary incarceration would likely expire before that procedure is complete. While the appeal is pending, the defendant would remain incarcerated because an appeal of a step-two order of temporary confinement deprives the district court of jurisdiction to act further. Cheama, 730 F.2d at 1385.
Even assuming that such an appeal does not prolong the defendant’s temporary confinement, as the majority seems to, Majority Opinion at 3 n. 1 (assuming defendant’s four-month confinement has concluded), an affirmance of a step-two order of temporary confinement will, in many cases, be followed by a step-three commitment order which, all agree, is final for purposes of appeal. The majority’s approach will therefore often result in two appeals, which “is the kind of disruption of the judicial process that the finality requirement was designed to avoid.” Id. at 1386. I would dismiss the present appeal on grounds that the order appealed from does not represent a final determination of defendant’s competency to stand trial.