Court Opinion

ID: 9549779
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 18:24:39.040004+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:20:54.417833
License: Public Domain

CARDINE, Chief Justice,
dissenting.
I cannot join in the opinion of the court and therefore dissent. The opinion is too broad, goes much too far, and decides questions without supporting authority which are not presented in this appeal. For example, under “Right to Second Opinion,” the court discusses waiver by the public defender’s office of a “claimed right” to a second opinion. Evitts v. Lucey, 469 U.S. 387, 105 S.Ct. 830, 83 L.Ed.2d 821 (1985), is cited for the proposition that counsel cannot waive “such a fundamental right.” Assuming that the right referred to is the right to a second opinion by a designated examiner defined by W.S. 7-11-304(d), this court has never decided this to be a “fundamental” right in the constitutional sense. The only case cited, Evitts, is an ineffective *1313assistance of counsel case. Three separate questions of constitutional law are apparently being decided with nothing more than scant discussion.
Additionally, the opinion describes appellant’s behavior in stealing the truck as a “completely irrational course of events.” The opinion heavily stresses the fact that the appellant abandoned his belongings at the rescue mission, apparently because this could be evidence of intent to return. Since this case is going back on remand, I question whether the court should characterize the behavior as “completely irrational.” I, for one, think it would be rational to conclude that the benefit to be obtained from a 1979 Suburban might be greater than the intrinsic value of the transient’s possessions left at the Souls Anchor Rescue Mission.
In conclusion, my major concern with the court’s opinion is that appellant raises just one issue. That issue is dispositive of the case. I cannot accept this opinion which discusses six other issues not raised, especially when the discussion is painted in such broad strokes.