Com. v. Watson

• Decision Date: 22 July 2008
• Docket Number: No. 63 EAP 2004.,63 EAP 2004.
• Citation: 952 A.2d 541
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellant v. Herbert WATSON, Appellee.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

952 A.2d 541

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellant v. Herbert WATSON, Appellee.

No. 63 EAP 2004.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued October 16, 2006.

Decided July 22, 2008.

Resubmitted January 11, 2008.

Reargued April 15, 2008.

Hugh J. Burns, Jr., Esq., Philadelphia District Attorney's Office, Jeffrey Krulik, Esq., for Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Samuel C. Stretton, Esq., West Chester, for Herbert Watson.

BEFORE: CASTILLE, C.J., and SAYLOR, EAKIN, BAER, TODD and McCAFFERY, JJ.

OPINION

Chief Justice CASTILLE.

Today we decide two appeals each presenting the identical issue of whether an inmate who is presently incompetent may be compelled to take psychiatric medication in order to render him competent to determine whether he wishes to pursue relief under the Post Conviction Relief Act (PCRA).¹ In this matter, as in the companion case of Commonwealth v. Sam, No. 49 EAP 2005, J-36-2008, ___ Pa. ___, 952 A.2d 565, 2008 WL 2853095 (Pa.2008), the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County ("PCRA court") denied a request by the Commonwealth to compel the administration of such medication. For the reasons that follow, we reverse the order of the PCRA court and remand for further proceedings consistent with this Opinion.

On November 10, 1983, a jury convicted appellee Herbert Watson of, inter alia, the crime of first-degree murder for shooting to death his estranged girlfriend and the crime of aggravated assault for shooting and seriously injuring a friend of the victim's sister. After a penalty hearing, the jury sentenced appellee to death. This Court affirmed appellee's conviction and sentence on direct appeal. Commonwealth v. Watson, 523 Pa. 51, 565 A.2d 132 (1989) (relating facts underlying appellee's convictions).

On November 14, 1996, appellee filed a pro se PCRA petition. After several reassignments, the case was ultimately assigned to the Honorable David N. Savitt of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County. An amended petition was finally filed on October 3, 2001.² On July 9, 2002, the Commonwealth filed a motion to dismiss the petition. On January 29, 2003, counsel for appellee filed a "Consolidated Response to Commonwealth's Motion to Dismiss, Supplemental Petition for Relief Under the [PCRA], and Motions for Summary Grant of Relief and for An Evidentiary Hearing Under the [PCRA]." Appellee subsequently sent a series of rambling letters to Judge Savitt stating that he had fired his counsel and wished to withdraw his appeals. Consequently, on July 9, 2003, the PCRA court held a hearing, after which it stayed the proceedings and ordered that appellee be examined by the court's mental health unit as well as by two mental health experts retained by defense counsel — psychiatrist Robert L. Sadoff, M.D., and psychologist Gerald Cooke, Ph.D. On September 9th, the court granted a continuance to allow appellee's examination by John S. O'Brien, II, M.D., a psychiatrist retained by the Commonwealth. Drs. Sadoff and Cooke examined appellee on September 17th; on December 9th, appellee was examined by Dr. O'Brien and by the court's psychiatrist, Robert Stanton, M.D.

At a status conference held on May 20, 2004, the Commonwealth requested that the PCRA court issue an order compelling appellee to take psychiatric medication in order to render him competent to pursue PCRA relief. On June 17, 2004, the court held a hearing at which the parties informed the court that the four experts were in agreement that appellee was currently incompetent to pursue PCRA relief. In addition, appellee's counsel informed the court that appellee's mother, Marie Watson, had agreed to serve as his next friend. On June 22nd, the court issued an order finding appellee presently incompetent and appointing Mrs. Watson as his next friend. As it stated at the hearing, the court felt obliged to formally find appellee incompetent "for the purpose of moving forward," that is, to enable the court to appoint Mrs. Watson as next friend and "dispose of the case." Notes of Testimony ("N.T."), 6/17/04, at 27. The court, however, expressly reserved judgment on the question of whether appellee's competency could be restored. Id. at 31.

On October 18, 2004, the PCRA court held the first of two hearings on the issue of whether appellee's competency could be restored. At the first hearing, the defense presented testimony from Dr. Sadoff, one of its two mental health experts. On direct examination, Dr. Sadoff testified that it was his opinion "within reasonable medical certainty" that appellee, "because of his mental illness, which is paranoid schizophrenia and he is psychotic, does not really understand in a rational way the proceedings in which he's involved or the consequences of those proceedings." N.T. 10/18/04, at 22. As to whether appellee was currently a danger to himself or others while incarcerated on death row, Dr. Sadoff opined, based on his review of appellee's prison records, that appellee "has not been violent." Id. at 28.³ As to whether appellee's competency could be restored, when asked by the court whether there was "a medication that would be effective in this case," Dr. Sadoff responded as follows:

I don't know, Your Honor. I know he has been tried on a number of different medications. I don't know how long he's taken them. I don't know what dosages he's had, but if he gets the right medication and the proper dosage and is monitored carefully over a period of time and shows improvement, then I would say yes, then it works.

Id. at 30. With respect to the side effects of the medications with which appellee had previously been treated, Dr. Sadoff testified as follows:

[F]or the medications that he took there were unsettling side-effects, that's because some of the medication was the old tranquilizers that are now in injectable form. The newer medications don't have that kind of tardive dyskinesia, but they all have some side-effects. But the newer medications have fewer of the serious side-effects than the old medications have.

Id. at 32. When asked whether the medications that appellee had taken had failed to restore his competency, Dr. Sadoff responded that he could not answer the question because he did not have the necessary data. Id. at 33. Finally, when asked what he would prescribe for appellee, Dr. Sadoff testified as follows:

[I]f he's willing to take it, I'd give him the oral Zyprexa. If he's not willing to take it ... and I have to give him something that I'm sure will stay there, I'll give him an injectable form of either Haldol or Prolixin, but those two have the side-effects that are not so nice....

Id. at 34. Dr. Sadoff subsequently identified the "not so nice" side effects of Haldol and Prolixin as "the shakiness that we call dyskinesia." Id. at 38.

At the October 18th hearing, the PCRA court also heard testimony from Marie Watson, appellee's mother, whom the court had appointed as his next friend. During examination by appellee's counsel, Mrs. Watson testified as follows:

Q. Now you have met with me with your daughter, Angela Stokes, in my office about a couple weeks ago; am I correct?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. And we discussed all the issues about Mr. Watson's case; am I right?

A. Yes, we did.

Q. We discussed that he had some good legal issues but no one knew where they would go; am I right?

A. Uh-huh.

Q. I discussed that there was a chance that the Court might be willing to impose life imprisonment if we gave up those other issues; do you remember that?

A. Yes, sir, you spoke on that.

Q. And you also had a chance to meet, at my request, with Ms. McCracken from the death penalty organization and Mr. McHugh from the death penalty organization; am I correct?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. You did that at my request and you met them on one or two occasions on this particular issue; am I right?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. And based on all those conversations, you understand it's in the interest of your son to live and not to be put to death; am I correct?

A. Yes, sir.

N.T., 10/18/04, at 43-44 (emphasis added). At this point during Mrs. Watson's testimony, the PCRA court interjected, prompting the following additional testimony:

Q. Well, let me ask you this. That's your opinion; is that right? You want him to live?

A. It's not totally my opinion. I think he deserves to live.

Q. Do you think he knows what he's doing when he says he wants to die?

A. No, sir. No, sir. If that was so, I would have went [sic] home when he said go home.

Id. at 44-45. Thereupon, appellee's counsel questioned Mrs. Watson as to her willingness to agree to accept life imprisonment on appellee's behalf, to which she responded: "I would be willing. I don't want him to die." Id. at 46. At this point, the court again interjected, prompting the following additional testimony from Mrs. Watson:

Q. You don't want him to die, that's what you don't want. But the question is, if you're his best [sic] friend, your obligation isn't necessarily to do what you want, it's to do what he wants.

A. Yes, sir.

Q. Now you know him, he's your son, you've talked to him; is that correct?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. What does he want?

A. I would hope it would not be to die. I don't really think he wants to die. I think he has decided if he has to live like he's been living, it would be better to be dead.

Q. Well, is that a reasonable — some people make that decision and that doesn't mean you're incompetent, because the option then that you've been asked is to give up any claims he has and he will do life imprisonment without parole; is that what you think he wants?

A. No, sir.

Q. You think he wants to be exonerated?

A. Well, I think he's been here all the time, he did the suffering and I think he wants justice. I think he wants justice.

Id. at 46-47.

After briefly hearing testimony from appellee's sister, Angela Stokes, the PCRA court concluded the October 18th proceeding by hearing testimony from appellee himself. Although portions of it are incoherent, appellee's...