Court Opinion

ID: 9768423
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 06:02:30.218523+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:40.776006
License: Public Domain

HOWELL, Justice,
dissenting.
I dissent because I believe that the State’s burden of proof at the competency hearing was governed by the standard of beyond a reasonable doubt.
The record from appellant’s competency hearing reflects that during the year previous to his trial, he was adjudicated incompetent and sent to Rusk State Hospital and that the prior adjudication of incompetency was unvacated at the time of trial in the instant case.
As the majority notes, the evidence at the competency hearing consisted exclusively of statements of the State’s witness. The relevant portions of his testimony and cross-examination follow:
[The witness:] Last year [appellant] was sent to Rusk State Hospital for the criminally insane from Fort Worth. He stayed there about 18 days when he broke out of the building and managed to scale a fence.... But he did this and he has not been back in the hospital since that period of time.

Q All right. The reason essentially why we’re having this hearing is because there was a judgment out of a Fort Worth Court that sent him to Rusk State Hospital that said he was incompetent; is that correct?
A That’s correct.
Q And the reason why we’re here is to determine again his competency?
A Yes, sir.

Q Okay. You said you had a theory about why they sent him to Rusk; is that correct.
A Yes, sir.
Q All right. And I may regret this, but, Doctor, what is the basis of that theory? That’s one of the questions that we have here is why there is that unva-cated judgment of incompetency. What’s your theory as to that?
A I happen to know the psychiatrist who examined him in Fort Worth and he has a great tendency to call everybody a schizophrenic. And this, in fact he did. And Fort Worth has a little different system that they use than what we use in terms of sending some cases to Rusk. So that he was sent to Rusk with that diagnosis. Rusk did not find that diagnosis at all. (emphasis added)
The witness confirmed twice that the appellant was the subject of a incompetency *830judgment. The witness further confirmed that the judgment was unvacated and the purpose of the instant competency hearing was to redetermine the appellant’s competency.
The majority does not appear to find these statements sufficient to constitute clear evidence of a prior adjudication of incompetency. Rather, they seem to read the statements of the State’s witness that the psychiatrist in Fort Worth tended to “call everybody a schizophrenic” and that appellant was “sent to Rusk with that diagnosis” as showing that the judgment of the Fort Worth court was without foundation. None of this is relevant. We cannot revise the final judgment of the Fort Worth court, erroneous or not.1
The role of the psychiatrist in a competency hearing is not to make the legal determination, but to present relevant psychiatric opinion evidence relating to the accused’s mental condition to the trier of fact. The legal determination of competency is the province of the trier of fact. See Magnus, Mental Incompetency, 18 BAYLOR L.REV. 22, 40-41 (1966). A fair reading of the witness’s statements does not create any conflict or confusion as to the nature of appellant’s incarceration at Rusk on the basis of incompetency.
As quoted and discussed by the majority, the competency charge placed the burden of proof on the State. Clearly, under the circumstances shown, the trial court was required to do so. However, the writer cannot agree that preponderance of the evidence was the proper burden. From earliest times, the Court of Criminal Appeals has required the State in prior adjudication cases such as this to prove competency beyond a reasonable doubt. See Morrow v. State, 154 Tex.Cr.R. 21, 224 S.W.2d 481, 485 (1949); 2 M. Teague, TEXAS CRIMINAL PRACTICE GUIDE § 53.-04[3] (1985). In prior years, the cases spoke in terms of “present insanity” rather than in terms of competency, but the inquiry was identical — the mental capacity of the accused at the time of trial. Morrow states:
The careful trial court placed the burden of proof upon the State to show beyond a reasonable doubt not only that appellant was sane at the time of the alleged offense, but also at the time of the trial, on account of the fact that he had been found insane in the Tarrant County Court_ We think such instruction was a correct proposition of law. See Gunter v. State, 139 Tex.Cr.R. 145, 139 S.W.2d 116; Herring v. State, 141 Tex.Cr.R. 281, 148 S.W.2d 416.
Morrow, 224 S.W.2d at 485 (emphasis added). See also Ex parte Tuttle, 445 S.W.2d 194, 199 (Tex.Crim.App.1969) (notes that burden is on the State without stating standard of proof). The following cases involving insanity at the time of the offense hold that in instances of the defendant’s prior adjudication, the State’s burden is beyond a reasonable doubt: Murray v. State, 147 Tex.Crim. 474, 182 S.W.2d 475, 477 (1944); Herring v. State, 141 Tex.Crim. 281, 148 S.W.2d 416, 417 (1941); Gunter v. State, 139 Tex.Crim. 145, 139 S.W.2d 116, 117 (1940). The history of the “competency doctrine” is thoroughly discussed in Townsend v. State, 427 S.W.2d 55 (Tex.Crim.App.1968). The court noted that the rule against trying an incompetent person is long established and can be traced from the earliest common law times_” Townsend, 427 S.W.2d at 58.
The majority appears to read Ex parte Yarborough, 607 S.W.2d 565 (Tex.Crim.App.1980) (en banc) as reducing the State’s burden to a preponderance. That defendant had been previously adjudicated insane both with respect to the time of the offense and the time of trial. He was later dis*831charged from the mental hospital where he had been committed. There was no hearing as to the restoration of his sanity. Construing a provision of the Mental Health Code, the court declared that discharge alone terminates the presumption of incompetency. It went on to say:
Prior to 1958, an unvacated judgment of insanity established a presumption of continuing insanity, thus shifting the burden of proof to the State to establish the sanity of the accused by a preponderance of the evidence. However, the enactment of Article 5547-81(b), V.A.C.S. abolished the presumption of continuing mental incompetency where the patient was discharged, (citations omitted)
Yarborough, 607 S.W.2d at 566 (emphasis added). Although relying on this language, the majority concedes it to be dicta. Dicta, it is submitted, should never be interpreted as overruling established authority.
Neither do the Yarborough citations support a preponderance of the evidence test. Clark, Tuttle, Amos, and McGee simply state that prior adjudication shifts the burden to the State.2 As already noted, the older cases employ the term “insanity” regarding both criminal responsibility (insanity as a defense) and competency to stand trial (present insanity). Townsend, 427 S.W.2d at 61; See Comment, Both Issues: Insanity and Incompetency, 22 BAYLOR L.REV. 230 (1970). The Morrow charge dealt with mental capacity both at the time of the offense and at the time of trial and made no distinction in the required standard of proof. Morrow, 224 S.W.2d at 485.
Competency hearings are governed by article 46.02 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Neither the burden nor the standard of proof in cases of prior adjudication is addressed therein. It is provided elsewhere that “[where the] Code fails to provide a rule of procedure in any particular state of case which may arise, the rules of common law shall be applied and govern.” TEX. CODE CRIM.PROC.ANN. art. 1.27 (Vernon 1977). As previously noted, the competency doctrine stems from the common law. Thus, the common law standard requiring proof beyond a reasonable doubt of competency at time of trial must apply. The majority urges that it is illogical to burden the State to prove mental capacity beyond a reasonable doubt whereas the defensive burden in the absence of prior adjudication is by a preponderance. Insofar as mental capacity at the time of the offense is concerned, the requirement of proof beyond a reasonable doubt probably enjoys constitutional protection. Mental capacity is presumed to exist until incapacity is proven. A prior adjudication destroys the presumption and creates the contrary presumption of incapacity. As a part of its constitutional burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the existence of a culpable mental state, the State must prove mental capacity at the time of the offense by the higher standard. Our majority takes the position that at a pre-trial hearing on the defendant’s mental capacity to stand trial, the higher standard is not constitutionally mandated. Perhaps, so. However, the court of criminal appeals has made no distinction. Wherever the burden of proof concerning mental capacity has devolved upon the State, the court has imposed the test of beyond a reasonable doubt. We cannot disregard the rulings of that court simply by labeling them as “illogical.”
The majority finds significance in the amendment of article 5547-83 of the Mental Health Code. Suffice to say, the shifting burden rule existed long before there was a mental health code. The fact that the newest version of the Code is silent as to whether the burden shifts cannot be taken as the affirmative repeal of a long standing common law rule. Furthermore, the amendment draws no distinction between mental capacity at the time of the offense and at the time of trial. To interpret the amendment as providing for no shift of the burden concerning capacity at *832the time of the offense would raise grave constitutional questions. To interpret the amendment as abolishing the shift in the one instance and not in the other would strain credulity.3
Nothing in the Code of Criminal Procedure or the Mental Health Code varies the requirement laid down in Morrow and similar cases. It follows that the charge in this ease was in error as to the burden of persuasion.
Having determined that the charge contained the wrong standard of proof, such error must be evaluated in light of Almanza v. State, 686 S.W.2d 157, 171 (Tex.Crim.App.1984) which requires a determination of whether appellant’s claim of fundamental error is “so egregious and created such harm that appellant has not had a fair and impartial trial.” The degree of harm must be judged in light of the entire jury charge and the state of the evidence. Almanza, 686 S.W.2d at 171. This court should hold that appellant did sustain egregious harm of such nature as to deprive him of a fair and impartial trial where the court charged upon a preponderance of the evidence whereas it should have charged upon beyond a reasonable doubt. The higher burden of proof has been repeatedly extolled as a basic right of the accused, a cornerstone of criminal due process. Leland v. Oregon, 343 U.S. 790, 802-03, 72 S.Ct. 1002, 1009, 96 L.Ed. 1302 (1952) (Frankfurter, J., dissenting); see In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358, 362-63, 90 S.Ct. 1068, 1071-72, 25 L.Ed.2d 368 (1970). Whether or not the higher standard is guaranteed by the federal or the State constitution in the specific instance does not diminish its importance as a safeguard against unjust imprisonment. The decisions of our court of criminal appeals have long provided the higher standard of proof to those who previously were adjudicated to be lacking in mental capacity, whether that incapacity be labeled as insanity or incompetency. In reliance upon the decisions of the court of criminal appeals, it should be held that appellant was denied a fair and impartial trial.
I dissent. The appeal should be abated and the case remanded for a new competency hearing.4

. Additionally, the majority would read the witness’s statements as preventing someone diagnosed as a schizophrenic from also being subject to an adjudication of incompetency to stand trial. Such was the precise factual situation involved at the first competency hearing in Futch v. State, 632 S.W.2d 743, 744 (Tex.Crim.App.1982). At the hearing, at which the jury found Futch to be incompetent, a psychiatrist testified that Futch was a severely psychotic chronic schizophrenic. The conditions are not mutually exclusive; one is a medical diagnosis, the other a test defined by law.

. The majority specifically notes this with regard to Ex parte Tuttle, 445 S.W.2d at 194 (opinion p. 8).

. The amendment in question was part of an overall revision to the Mental Health Code and the legislative committee filed a lengthy report along with a recommendation for its adoption. The old code was described as "ambiguous, outdated, and in conflict with court decisions involving patient rights." It was described as expanding and clarifying the rights of the mentally ill. Nowhere does the committee intimate as an objective, the revision of the burden of proof as to mental incapacity in connection with criminal causes. HOUSE COMM. ON PUBLIC HEALTH, BILL ANALYSIS, TEX. S.B. 435, 68th Leg. (1983).

. There is ample authority that the requirements of due process may be fully met if appel-Iant is now granted a hearing to determine, after the fact, whether he was competent at the time he was tried and convicted. Garcia v. State, 595 S.W.2d 538, 542 (Tex.Crim.App.1980); Brandon v. State, 599 S.W.2d 567, 573 (Tex.Crim.App.1979) (en banc); Caballero v. State, 587 S.W.2d 741, 743 (Tex.Crim.App.1979). Retrospective determinations are possible depending upon the facts of each case and the quality and quantity of evidence available. See United States v. Makris, 535 F.2d 899 (5th Cir.1976), cert. denied 430 U.S. 954, 97 S.Ct. 1598, 51 L.Ed.2d 803 (1977).
Therefore, I would abate the appeal and remand the case with instructions that the trial court proceed in accordance with Brandon, 599 S.W.2d at 578.