Commonwealth v. Knight
| Decision Date | 14 March 1980 |
| Citation | 276 Pa.Super. 348,419 A.2d 492 |
| Parties | COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, v. Horace KNIGHT, Appellant. |
| Court | Pennsylvania Superior Court |
Submitted March 23, 1979. [Copyrighted Material Omitted]
John W. Packel, Asst. Public Defender, Chief Appeals Division, Philadelphia, for appellant.
Eric B. Henson, Asst. Dist. Atty., Philadelphia, for Commonwealth appellee.
Before PRICE, SPAETH and LIPEZ, JJ.
Appellant was charged with burglary, [1] rape, [2] robbery, [3] two counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, [4] and simple [5] and aggravated assault. [6] He was tried by a judge sitting without a jury and was acquitted on the charges of rape, robbery, [7] and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse but convicted of burglary and aggravated assault. Post-verdict motions were denied and he was sentenced to five to ten years imprisonment on the aggravated assault conviction and to a concurrent term of ten years probation on the burglary conviction. On this appeal appellant raises arguments with respect to his competency to stand trial, the sufficiency of the evidence, and the propriety of the sentences. [8]
The facts were as follows. At 9:20 in the evening of July 10, 1976, the complainant, a sixty-nine year old woman, stepped out onto the front porch of her apartment building to get the correct time from a clock on the side of a funeral parlor next door. As she turned back to reenter the apartment building she was pushed from behind by appellant, who demanded that she give him thirty-five cents. When she told appellant that she had no money, he shoved her inside the open front door, followed her inside, and locked the door behind him. Inside the hallway, he threw her to the floor and began to beat her about the face, head, and abdomen, and to tear off her clothes. He then got down on top of her, according to the complainant, and engaged in anal, vaginal, and oral intercourse with her. [9] When she screamed for help from her neighbors and the police, he continued to beat her, and threatened her with a knife. She testified that she saw no knife, however. The police finally arrived, forced open the front door, and apprehended appellant.
-1-
At appellant's request a competency hearing was held before trial. At the conclusion of this hearing the lower court determined that appellant was competent to stand trial. Appellant argues that the lower court erred both in placing the burden of proving incompetency on him and in holding him competent to stand trial.
-a-
Section 403(a) of the Mental Health Procedures Act of 1976 (1976 Act) provides that "(t)he moving party shall have the burden of establishing incompetency to proceed by clear and convincing evidence." 50 P.S. § 7403(a). [10] In imposing the burden of proving his incompetency on appellant, the lower court was thus acting in accordance with the statutory law. Commonwealth v. Hunt, 259 Pa.Super. 1, 6, 393 A.2d 686, 689 (1978); see Commonwealth v. Kennedy, 451 Pa. 483, 305 A.2d 890 (1973). Appellant argues that even so, the burden of proving his competency should have been placed on the Commonwealth.
Appellant's main argument in support of this proposition is that competency to stand trial is an element of the offense, so that the Commonwealth must prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. See Commonwealth v. Rose, 457 Pa. 380, 321 A.2d 880 (1974); see also Commonwealth v. Sojourner, 268 Pa.Super. 488, 408 A.2d 1108 (1979). Appellant points to the Crimes Code definition of the term "element of an offense," [11] and to the case law, and contends that incompetency may negate culpability just as a claim of ignorance, mistake, or duress may. See Commonwealth v. Jones, 242 Pa.Super. 303, 312, 363 A.2d 1281, 1285 (1976) ().
Appellant also argues that even if competency is not an element of the offense, it is so similar to an element that the Commonwealth should be required to prove it. In support of this argument appellant discusses the defenses of entrapment and insanity, contending that incompetency is a defense similar to them. See Commonwealth v. Lynch, 477 Pa. 390, 383 A.2d 1263 (1978); Commonwealth v. Lesher, 473 Pa. 141, 373 A.2d 1088 (1977); Commonwealth v. Demmitt, 456 Pa. 475, 321 A.2d 627 (1974). According to appellant, just as in a case where a question of a defendant's sanity arises the Commonwealth must prove sanity beyond a reasonable doubt, so too, where, as here, a question of competency arises, the Commonwealth should be required to prove competency beyond a reasonable doubt. See Commonwealth v. Tyson, 485 Pa. 344, 402 A.2d 995 (1979); Commonwealth v. Demmitt, supra.
While appellant has presented a very full discussion of the issue of burden of proof with respect to elements and defenses, nevertheless his conclusions as to the burden of proving competency must be rejected. A defendant's competency to stand trial is not an element of the offense, and his incompetency is not a defense. Competency involves a defendant's mental state at trial, not his mental state at the time of the offense. The fact that a defendant becomes incompetent after the offense does not affect his culpability for its commission, although it may affect the timing of his trial. The elements of the crime, including the defendant's mens rea, are proved by evidence of the defendant's mental state and acts at the time the offense is committed. The defendant's competency to stand trial is proved by evidence of his mental state at the time of trial. [12]
Appellant argues, however, that the constitutional guarantees of due process of law require that the Commonwealth bear the burden of proving a defendant's competency at the time of trial. In support of this argument appellant cites In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358, 90 S.Ct. 1068, 25 L.Ed.2d 368 (1970), where the Court stated:
Lest there remain any doubt about the constitutional statute of the reasonable doubt standard, we explicitly hold that the Due Process Clause protects the accused against conviction except upon proof beyond a reasonable doubt of every fact necessary to constitute the crime with which he is charged.
Appellant's reliance on Winship is misplaced, for competency is not a "fact necessary to constitute the crime with which (a defendant) is charged; " as just stated, competency is not an element of an offense. Appellant's citation of Mullaney v. Wilbur, 421 U.S. 634, 95 S.Ct. 1881, 44 L.Ed.2d 508 (1975); Hankerson v. North Carolina, 432 U.S. 233, 97 S.Ct. 2339, 53 L.Ed.2d 306 (1977), and Patterson v. New York, 432 U.S. 197, 97 S.Ct. 2319, 53 L.Ed.2d 281 (1977), also does not persuade us, as those cases, like Winship, involved the burden of proving matters relevant to a defendant's mental state and actions at the time the offense was committed.
We agree with appellant that a "conviction of an accused person while he is legally incompetent violates due process." Pate v. Robinson, 383 U.S. 375, 378, 86 S.Ct. 836, 838, 15 L.Ed.2d 815 (1966). See Commonwealth v. Davis, 459 Pa. 575, 578, 330 A.2d 847, 848 (1975); Commonwealth v. Kennedy, supra; Commonwealth v. Harris, 431 Pa. 114, 243 A.2d 408 (1968); Commonwealth ex rel. Hilberry v. Maroney, 424 Pa. 493, 227 A.2d 159 (1967). [13] However, while due process requires that a defendant be competent, it does not further require that the Commonwealth bear the burden of proving that a defendant is competent. The fact that a right is guaranteed by due process does not mean that a defendant claiming a violation of that right may not be required to bear the burden of proving the violation. In Duren v. Missouri, 439 U.S. 357, 99 S.Ct. 664, 58 L.Ed.2d 579 (1979), the defendant bore the burden of proving that a jury panel system that afforded women an automatic exemption from jury service violated his rights under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments. Where a defendant claims that his right to a fair trial will be violated because of extensive pre-trial publicity, he bears the burden of proving that he will be prejudiced. [14] Commonwealth v. Casper, 481 Pa. 143, 392 A.2d 287 (1978); see Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. v. Gulf Oil Corp., --- Pa.Super. ---, ---, 411 A.2d 1203, 1218 (1979) citing, Irvin v. Dowd, 366 U.S. 717, 722, 81 S.Ct. 1639, 1642, 6 L.Ed.2d 751 (1961). A defendant claiming that he has received ineffective assistance of counsel must prove that counsel was ineffective. Commonwealth v. Sherard, 483 Pa. 183, 189, 394 A.2d 971, 975 (1978); Commonwealth ex rel. Washington v. Maroney, 427 Pa. 599, 235 A.2d 349 (1967).
-b-
Appellant next argues that even if the burden of proving his incompetency to stand trial was properly his, still the lower court erred in finding him competent on the facts of this case. Since we have held that appellant did bear the burden of proving incompetency, the question before us is whether appellant proved by "clear and convincing" evidence that he was incompetent. [15] See 50 P.S. § 7403(a); Commonwealth v. Harper, 479 Pa. 42, 387 A.2d 824 (1978).
Section 402(a) of the 1976 Act defines competency as follows:
Whenever a person who has been charged with a crime is found to be substantially unable to understand the nature or object of the proceedings against him or to participate and assist in his defense, he shall be deemed incompetent to be tried, convicted or sentenced so long as such incapacity continues.
Thus, under the 1976 Act there are two questions to be considered in determining appellant's competency; first, his ability to understand the nature and object of the proceedings; and second, his ability to participate and assist in his defense. See Commonwealth ex rel. Hilberry v. Maroney, supra (...
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