Court Opinion

ID: 9451001
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 17:02:35.65813+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:32:31.249636
License: Public Domain

BURGER, Circuit Judge
(dissenting) :
The majority remands for a nunc pro tunc finding on Pouncey’s competency to stand trial despite his failure to assert incompeteney either here or in the District Court and despite St. Elizabeths’ finding and statutory certification of competency. The finding on remand will necessarily be based in large part on the trial transcript which wp have before us. To me that transcript discloses no basis whatever for a remand since no reasonable reading could lead to any conclusion but competency to stand trial.
But the best answer to the majority position is the very lucid testimony of Pouncey himself. Accordingly, I set forth his account of the circumstances which gave rise to his trial:
Q Now, directing your attention to on or about July 23, 1963, do you recall being represented by a Mr. Rex K. Nelson, an attorney?
A Yes, I do.
Q Do you recall being called from the cell block or taken from the cell block by a United States Marshal and brought to the jury room in the rear of the Court?
A Yes, I do.
Q I want you to tell the Court and the ladies and gentlemen of the jury what transpired in the jury room on that date.
A Well, on the date, that July 23, I came up to the Court to talk to Mr. Rex Nelson, concerning a case or a motion I had in Court at the time.
I was taken from the cell block into the jury room. I went in, sat down, and begun to talk with Mr. Nelson. Mr. Nelson had told me that the best thing I should do was to withdraw my motion or either to let the Judge vacate my sentence and make a plea of guilty again. I told Mr. Nelson I would not do this because of the fact that I was not guilty, and now I had my chance to prove my innocence.
Later Mr. Nelson told me, well, he did not actually want the case, but he was assigned by the Court and he had to continue. So I told Mr. Nelson that if possible would he present a motion before the Court asking to withdraw from my case. He told me he would not.
I then became upset, and I stood up, I got my briefcase and my coat and hat and went to the Marshal and asked him to take me back to the cell block, I was through discussing my case with Mr. Nelson.
The Marshal explained to me that the Judge had a case in Court at that time and I would have to wait. I went back and sat down. I was so upset I wanted to walk around; so I stood up and I walked around the table about two or three times.
Later on I went to the Marshal again and asked him to take me back to the cell block. At this time I was speaking in a loud boisterous manner. The Marshal told me to calm myself and go sit down, and he would see what he could do.
I went back to the far end of the room. The Marshal went out and came back and told me that they hadn’t finished in the courtroom yet. Then I picked up my briefcase and told him: Let’s get out of here. He raised his hand as if to push me *703back. So I took a step back. I raised my hand to push his hand out of the way.
Then the Marshal told me to calm my voice and sit down. I said, O. K. As I turned, the Marshal grabbed me around the neck. So he said: You want to be tough; you want to be bad.
I said: I will sit down. I said: And stop choking me.
He said: You one of these bad fellows.
I said: Will you please let me go.
He then put more pressure on the hold that he had, which is a choke hold.
I grabbed the Marshal’s arm, and I tried to, you know, loosen the hold. He then threw me to the floor. Me. [sic] Nelson went out the door to call for more help. The Marshal came in; he grabbed one of my legs and kneeled down on it. It was hurting, so I kicked him off.
Later on, the rest of the Marshals came with the chains. So one of them hit me with the chain across my leg to hold my legs still; I was kicking; and they chained me and took me downstairs.
Q Now, Charles, did you have any intention of assaulting this Marshal at any time ?
A No, I did not.
Q Did you have any intention of resisting him in any way ?
A No, sir.
Q But you did want to get back to the cell block; you did not want to have any further conversations with your then attorney, Mr. Nelson?
A Yes, I did.
Q Now, let me ask you this, Charles: How long have you had a tendency or do you have a tendency to become highly upset and excited on certain occasions?
A Yes, I do.
Q And how long has that tendency persisted ? How long have you had it?
A As far back as I can remember.
Q Do you think you need psychiatric treatment for this condition?
A Not to a great extent, but I do need help.
Tr. 67-70.
As the record shows, Pouneey has a history of not liking his appointed lawyers; he seems to want to run his own litigation. There may be cases of genuine incompetency to stand trial of which such a history may be symptomatic, but nothing in the present record suggests to me that Pouncey’s condition is such a case. Indeed one manifestation of his distrust of counsel quite convincingly, I think, reveals just how “competent” Pouneey was in his own behalf. He assumed to cross-examine Dr. Owens, Clinical Director at St. Elizabeths, who had testified concerning the testing Poun cey had received at the hospital. In the following manner he questioned whether anyone had seen him except the man who administered his psychological tests:
The Defendant: Excuse me, Your Honor, I would like to ask Dr. Owens a couple of questions.
The Court: You may keep your seat.
Mr. Smith : If I may, I will confer with the Defendant, Your Honor, and see what questions he wants to ask, and I will propound them.
(Whereupon defense counsel conferred with the Defendant.)
Mr. Smith: If the Court please, the Defendant wants to ask his *704own questions. He doesn’t want to ask them through me.
The Court: Have him step up here. He may do so.
The Defendant: Dr. Owens, during the time I was over Saint Elizabeths Hospital, exactly how many times did I ever talk to any of the doctors over there or does your records show the amount of times that I had any conference or had been given any tests by any other doctor except Dr. Silberman?
The Witness: Beginning with the date of January 15, 1964, the staff conference, you were examined for a period of approximately an hour to an hour and a half by Dr. Owens, Dr. Dobbs, Dr. Ross, Dr. Simco, Dr. McGeehan, Dr. Chyhandi, two psychologists, Miss Sheegan, Mr. Wilberman, and Miss Pink, the social worker was also present.
Tr. 148-149. In my view Pouncey’s conduct here forecloses the remand now ordered by the court on a ground never sought by the Appellant.
The majority’s action is further objectionable. Dusky v. United States, 362 U.S. 402, 80 S.Ct. 788, 4 L.Ed.2d 824 (1962), often requires a new trial preceded by a determination of present competency because of the asserted difficulty of determining the issue of former competency retrospectively; the majority nonetheless orders a nunc pro tunc determination here. It may be that this would be the proper remand here if any remand were proper at all,1 but I question the majority’s rationale for this disposition. They say, “It would not be just to subject him [Pouncey] unnecessarily to the risk of another trial and another sentence,” merely because of the fortuity that his sentence will soon have been served. It seems to me that the risk that an appeal will be successful, resulting in a remand for a new trial, is one which must be borne by one who invokes the processes of an appellate court in order to secure a new trial.

. All of tlie discussion as to the difficulty of determining trial competency nunc pro tunc seems to ignore generations of experience in will contest cases. In such cases the courts deal with testamentary capacity which is far more elusive and subtle an issue to resolve and often must make the determination as of a date many years before the trial of the question.