Court Opinion

ID: 9785310
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 21:15:14.947153+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:36:15.562033
License: Public Domain

WILKINS, Associate Chief Justice,
concurring in the majority:
¶ 97 I concur in all respects with the majority opinion authored by Justice Durrant.
¶ 98 In March 2003, Defendant and her husband, Brian David Mitchell, were arrested in the company of a child who had been kidnapped and held for months. Both were charged with multiple felonies in connection with their alleged abduction of the child. Defendant was charged with aggravated burglary, aggravated sexual assault, aggravated *79kidnaping and attempted aggravated kidnap-ing, or in the alternative, conspiracy to commit aggravated kidnaping. The State filed a petition to inquire into Defendant’s competency. Two court-appointed evaluators determined that Defendant was suffering from mental illness of a psychotic nature and that her competency was “severely compromised.” Both evaluators found that due to the nature of her psychosis, Defendant had “severe impairments” in her ability to engage in the reasoned choice of legal strategies and options, and thus concluded that Defendant was “severely impaired with respect to her present capacity to consult with her counsel and participate in the proceedings against her with the reasonable degree of rational understanding.” The district court concluded that Defendant was not competent to proceed. Defendant was then transferred to the Utah State Hospital, where she currently remains.
¶ 99 Since its initial ruling, the district court has conducted two hearings to review Defendant’s competence. After the first review hearing, in August 2004, the district court determined that while Defendant was still incompetent to stand trial, there was a “substantial probability that [she] may become competent in the foreseeable future.” One year later, after the second review hearing, the district court concluded that Defendant remained incompetent. The State filed a motion to compel medication. At the Medication Hearing, the district court heard testimony from Drs. Kreg Jeppson, Paul Whitehead, Raphael Morris, and Xavier Amador. Concluding that “the testimony of the State’s witnesses is more persuasive,” the district court granted the State’s motion to compel medication. In that process, the district court made, and entered, a number of factual findings based upon the persuasiveness, content, and import of the testimony.
¶ 100 It is sufficient for my purpose here to simply note that the mental health professionals presented by the State and by the defendant did not agree on the need, danger, or outcome of the proposed forced medication of Ms. Barzee. The district court, to whom all of this evidence was presented, thoughtfully considered the differences and, as all judges are required to do, made a decision.
¶ 101 The Chief Justice is of the opinion that the factual findings of the district court, since they obviously implicate legal conclusions, deserve more careful examination on appellate review. This is accomplished, in this case, by reviewing the expert testimony presented to the trial court, considering it in the abstract, and, essentially, reweighing it to reach a different result.
¶ 102 I find no reason to reject the work of the district court. I am distressed by the trend in our eases of late to substitute our opinion of how the facts should be valued for that of the trial courts. I do not see that as our role. Apparently, some of my colleagues do.
¶ 103 As is always the case, the record on appeal and the argument presented by counsel in briefs and orally are woefully inadequate substitutes for the proceedings before the trial court. Our role, in my opinion, is to give helpful, clear, and usable direction on how the trial courts are to approach these tasks, not to accept the invitation by the unsuccessful party at trial to rejudge the matter in total. I believe this to be true in all cases, not just cases deemed to be somehow less important. I certainly agree that deprivation of essential and fundamental rights protected by the federal and state constitutions are important, and demand of us our best work. Such is the case of Ms. Barzee, and of the victim of the crimes with which Ms. Barzee is charged. However, to the parties, and the victims, all matters that come before us are just as important. All matters deserve the same care by us.
¶ 104 Exhaustive review of evidence in the record, and additional commentary on mental health generally, do not justify substitution of our judgment for that of the trial judge. Evaluation of witnesses has traditionally been left in the able hands of the trial courts. Assuming that role at the appellate level furthers a new trend, one with which I do not agree. Appellate courts should review, not redo. To do otherwise cripples the adversary process and invites not only additional *80appeals, but delay, inefficiency, and in my view, injustice.