Coffman v. United States

• Decision Date: 28 April 1961
• Docket Number: No. 6628.,6628.
• Parties: Carlos COFFMAN, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

290 F.2d 212 (1961)

Carlos COFFMAN, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.

No. 6628.

United States Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit.

April 28, 1961.

Tim Robberson, Denver, Colo., for appellant.

George T. Van Bebber, Asst. U. S. Atty., Kansas City, Kan. (Newell A. George, U. S. Atty., on the brief), for appellee.

Before MURRAH, Chief Judge, PICKETT, Circuit Judge, and KERR, District Judge.

KERR, District Judge.

Appellant predicates his appeal on the grounds that there was no judicial determination of his mental competency prior to the trial, that there was insufficient evidence to establish his mental competency at the time of the offense or at the time of the trial, and that the court erred in its instructions with respect to the issue of insanity.

A federal grand jury in the District of Kansas indicted appellant on a charge of bank robbery in violation of 18 U.S. C. § 2113(a, d). On June 17, 1960, he entered a plea of Not Guilty. Pursuant to 18 U.S.C.A. § 4244, the court committed him to the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners at Springfield, Missouri. Appellant was represented at all times by an attorney of his own selection and employment. During the trial on September 27, 1960, appellant admitted that he perpetrated the robbery. His counsel unequivocally informed the jury that the only question for them to decide was the sanity or insanity of the defendant at the time of the commission of the crime. The jury returned a verdict of guilty and appellant was sentenced to imprisonment for ten years.

The issue of the mental competency of appellant at the time of the trial is raised for the first time on this appeal. He states that the evidence establishes his mental incompetency at the time of the trial. This is not so. All the evidence was directed to his competency to commit the crime on February 12, 1960. He willingly went to trial, voluntarily testified in his own defense, and declared that he was capable of so testifying.

Appellant avers that the report of the examination at Springfield does not appear in the record and therefore presumably was not received. The record belies this argument. When appellant appeared for sentencing his counsel pleaded for leniency saying that "The court has, as a result of the trial and the reports from the psychiatrist from Springfield, as much information as any one else in regard to this particular matter." Appellant cannot be heard now to deny that the report was made and received.

Indeed, the introduction of the psychiatrist's report or of the finding of the court would have invited our censure. Section 4244 directs that the psychiatrist shall report to the court. If the court holds a hearing to determine the mental competency of the accused, evidence of the reporting psychiatrist (but not his report) may be submitted as evidence. The statute expressly states that the finding by the judge "shall not be introduced in evidence on that issue nor otherwise be brought to the notice of the jury."

In support of his contention that he was incompetent to be tried and sentenced, appellant asserts that there was no judicial determination of his mental competency prior to the trial and that Title 18 U.S.C.A. §§ 4244 and 4245 require such a determination. Appellant does not contend that the report of the psychiatrist revealed that he was incompetent to stand trial. The language in Section 4244 is unambiguous. The court is not compelled to hold a hearing to determine the mental competency of the accused if the report of the psychiatrist does not indicate that the defendant is presently insane or mentally incompetent.¹ There being no evidence to the contrary, we presume that the trial court acted correctly and in accordance with the statutory mandate.² The only possible conclusion is that the court was convinced that the appellant was capable of comprehending the nature of the charges against him and of assisting counsel in the preparation and presentation of his own defense.

Appellant contends that the prosecution did not sustain the burden of proving his sanity and that the jury's verdict is contrary to the evidence. The presumption of sanity having been overcome by the introduction of the issue of insanity, it is necessary to prove the mental capacity of the appellant to commit the crime by competent evidence beyond a reasonable doubt.³

Ever solicitous of the rights of one who pleads not guilty by reason of insanity, we have carefully analyzed the evidence relating to appellant's mental capacity. The most that can be deduced from the testimony of appellant's witnesses, his relatives and friends, is that they thought that appellant was nervous, upset, and that he did not act like himself. The psychiatrist who observed and examined appellant at the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners at Springfield, Missouri, testified that his intellectual capacity measured in the range of high average to above average. Appellant had the tendency, according to the examination, to disassociate himself or to reject uncomfortable situations and to have relatively severe emotional difficulty, but he was oriented as to time, place and person. There were no clear-cut gross overt symptoms that he had radically lost contact with reality. The ultimate diagnosis from the Medical Center was that appellant was of the Chronic Undifferentiated Type of Schizophrenic Reaction. The expert testified, however, that persons who are so diagnosed are quite productive; they do very well, and adjust in their communities, their effectiveness, merely, being decreased. On cross examination the psychiatrist stated that he found appellant mentally ill, that is, his psychological defenses against stress and anxiety had...