Bruce v. Estelle
| Citation | 536 F.2d 1051 |
| Decision Date | 09 August 1976 |
| Docket Number | No. 75-3284,75-3284 |
| Parties | Robert Vernon BRUCE, Petitioner-Appellant. v. W. J. ESTELLE, Director, Texas Department of Corrections, Respondent-Appellee. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit) |
James S. Pleasant, Dallas, Tex., Michael Anthony Maness, Houston, Tex., Timothy A. Duffy, Dallas, Tex., for petitioner-appellant.
Henry Wade, Dist. Atty., Ronald D. Hinds, Dallas, Tex., for respondent-appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
Before DYER and CLARK, Circuit Judges, and KRAFT, * District Judge.
This appeal caps a series of protracted postconviction proceedings designed to determine whether Robert Bruce was legally competent to stand trial for the murder of his wife in 1965. Pursuant to our mandate in Bruce's last appeal, the district court conducted a nunc pro tunc competency hearing and concluded that petitioner did not suffer from any mental illness which would interfere with his ability to assist in his own defense and factually and rationally understand the proceedings against him. Since we are unable to agree with that crucial determination, we must reverse and order that the writ of habeas corpus be issued subject to the right of the State of Texas to retry petitioner within a reasonable time.
As we recognized in our prior opinion, the factual background pertinent to petitioner's constitutional challenge is far from routine. Retelling the story properly begins this analysis. On the morning of December 22, 1964, Bruce shot and killed his wife of 12 years, the mother of his three children. When the police arrived in response to Bruce's telephone call, they found him partially crying and asking over and over again if his wife was dead. While confined in the Dallas County jail subsequent to arrest Bruce attempted to commit suicide. Bruce's father initially retained attorney Joe McNicholas to represent his son. At first McNicholas was unable to interview his client because he appeared to be in a state of shock. Upon learning that Bruce had experienced psychological difficulties while serving in the Marine Corps in the 1950's, McNicholas obtained his client's military treatment file. The records recounted two disturbing episodes which precipitated Bruce's medical discharge from the service. Each time Bruce had become extremely belligerent after drinking heavily. On one occasion he commandeered a barracks for 20 minutes before he was finally subdued and taken to the hospital by six Marines. Based on this medical history, Bruce's counsel arranged for his client to be examined by the county health officer and Dr. Holbrook, a psychiatrist. They concluded that Bruce was suffering from a severe chronic paranoid personality disorder and that he might be dangerous to himself or to others if not confined. Dr. Holbrook predicted long-term psychiatric hospitalization.
Thereafter, the Dallas County Grand Jury which had been investigating the shooting decided to no-bill the case and order Bruce held for a lunacy commitment. On March 3, 1965, the Probate Court adjudged Bruce "mentally ill" and directed that he be involuntarily committed to Terrell State Hospital for his own welfare and the protection of others. From the record it appears that this adjudication has never been set aside.
While at Terrell, Bruce was prescribed large daily dosages of an antipsychotic medication by the staff physician. At that time he related to his father that he had seen his dead wife coming down the walk and accused his parents of hiding her from him, claiming that she was probably now working on the second shift at a local factory. After being confined for a little over a month, Bruce's discharge was authorized by an imposter who was neither a psychiatrist nor a physician. The "doctor" was eventually convicted and imprisoned for perjury and practicing medicine without a license. Approximately a month later, Bruce voluntarily recommitted himself to Terrell but soon thereafter escaped. He spent the next few weeks at his parents' home, a motel and in an alcohol treatment center.
Bruce's legal difficulties commenced when the district attorney's office learned that Bruce was no longer at Terrell. His case was represented to the grand jury; this time Bruce was indicted for murder with malice aforethought. Attorney McNicholas advised that an insanity defense be urged. However, both Bruce and his father insisted that insanity not be raised, apparently because they believed such a plea would "reflect on his children." McNicholas was dismissed and another attorney, Mr. Snodgrass, was retained under instructions not to make an issue of petitioner's mental state.
The only defense offered at the murder trial was that the shooting was an accident. Bruce testified to his version of the event in a logical and understandable fashion and was able to withstand thorough-going cross-examination. When his daughter was on the stand, however, Bruce interrupted the proceedings twice with statements disputing her testimony and urging her to tell the truth. At one point the judge threatened to bind and gag petitioner if he continued to disrupt the trial with his outbursts. Neither the state nor the defense explored the subject of Bruce's mental condition. The jury did not learn of the prior commitment; in fact, Bruce denied on cross examination that he had ever been treated for a nervous condition. Rejecting the accident defense, the jury returned a guilty verdict and Bruce was sentenced to life imprisonment. His conviction was affirmed on direct appeal. Bruce v. State, 402 S.W.2d 919 (Tex.Cr.App.1966).
Upon conviction, Bruce was assigned to the Wynne Treatment Unit of the Texas Department of Corrections. Two staff psychiatrists diagnosed his condition as "schizophrenic, chronic, undifferentiated" and again Bruce was treated with antipsychotic medication.
The anfractuous ten-year postconviction route began with an application for a writ of habeas corpus to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. One of the grounds urged by Bruce was "insanity" at the time of trial. The state court denied the writ without a hearing. Similarly, the federal district court refused all relief. On appeal this court vacated and remanded to allow Bruce to reapply to the state convicting court under recently enacted postconviction provisions. Bruce v. Beto, 396 F.2d 212 (5th Cir. 1968).
To resolve the several competency and sanity questions related to Bruce's conviction, the state convicting court empaneled an advisory jury and conducted an extensive evidentiary hearing in 1969. Four witnesses provided testimony supporting Bruce's claim of incompetence. Bruce's father recounted how his son had never performed well in school and had constantly complained that his teachers and classmates were mistreating him. Bruce's employment record was equally poor and unstable. He could not hold a steady job and a pattern emerged whereby he would either get mad and quit or be fired. Two physicians who had performed mental status examinations on Bruce prior to the hearing and had access to petitioner's medical history testified that they believed that Bruce was incompetent at his 1965 trial. Both experts concluded that Bruce suffered from a severe form of schizophrenia. Dr. Tauber had seen Bruce daily over a six-week period; his diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia was confirmed by a battery of tests administered to Bruce by a consulting psychologist. Finally, attorney McNicholas related that while he was employed as counsel, Bruce had not provided any assistance in his defense; he expressed the opinion that his former client was a very sick man.
The state's case revolved around the testimony of two witnesses. Bruce's trial attorney stated that he believed that petitioner was able to reasonably confer with and assist him at trial, except for two occasions (coinciding with the outbursts) when Bruce became so deeply, emotionally involved that he was incapable of communication. The evidence most damaging to petitioner's incompetency claim was provided by Dr. Grigson, the state's sole expert witness. Dr. Grigson explained that he had detected intentional falsification in some of Bruce's responses when he conducted an hour-long mental status examination of petitioner prior to the hearing. On the basis of this faking determination and a study of petitioner's medical history, Dr. Grigson concluded that the other doctors' diagnoses of schizophrenia were wrong, and that Bruce was merely a malingerer who was certainly able to function well enough to assist his attorney in his defense.
The jury returned a verdict deciding all competency and sanity questions adversely to Bruce and the trial court entered judgment in accordance with the verdict. When Bruce returned to federal court with his second habeas petition, the district judge dismissed the action on the basis of the state court findings. However, on appeal this court again reversed, characterizing the state proceedings as fundamentally unfair. The major deficiencies cited were the failure to separate the various competency and sanity questions, prejudicial closing remarks and application of an improper standard to determine competency to stand trial. Bruce v. Estelle, 483 F.2d 1031 (5th Cir. 1973). This time we remanded to the federal district court to resolve the single question of petitioner's competency in 1965. The district court was instructed to initially determine whether a meaningful nunc pro tunc hearing could be conducted at this late date and, if so, to reach and decide the competency issue.
Two psychiatrists were appointed by the district court to examine Bruce, furnish a medical report and testify at the 1974 retrospective hearing. The experts' reports revealed irreconcilable differences with respect to the crucial threshold question of whether Bruce had ever suffered from any clinically recognized psychiatric disorder. Dr....
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