Commonwealth v. Torres
| Decision Date | 04 March 2004 |
| Parties | COMMONWEALTH v. JOSE TORRES. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
Present: MARSHALL, C.J., GREANEY, IRELAND, SPINA, COWIN, SOSMAN, & CORDY, JJ.
Catherine Langevin Semel, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth.
David M. Skeels, Committee for Public Counsel Services, for the defendant.
In this case, we are asked to determine whether, consistent with G. L. c. 276, § 57, and principles of due process, a judge in the Superior Court may conduct a bail hearing for a defendant found incompetent to stand trial. We conclude that, as a general rule, the judge may.
1. Background. On January 4, 2001, Jose Torres was arraigned on charges of rape of a child and indecent assault and battery on a child under the age of fourteen years. Although Torres's counsel stated at the arraignment that Torres had clinical depression and may be "slow," no competency examination was ordered. Bail was set at $50,000 surety or $5,000 cash, and the defendant posted bail and was released. At a subsequent hearing on May 1, 2001, Torres's counsel expressed reservations about Torres's competency to stand trial, and the judge ordered a competency evaluation pursuant to G. L. c. 123, § 15 (a).
A series of evaluations and temporary periods of commitment followed, culminating in a competency hearing before another judge in the Superior Court on February 3, 2003. At that hearing, Dr. John Von Gilmore, Jr., testified that Torres was mildly mentally retarded and suffered from schizoaffective disorder, a mental illness characterized by vulnerability to depression and psychotic symptoms including auditory and visual hallucinations. Although Torres was able to control the symptoms of schizo-affective disorder with medication, his mental retardation is an incurable condition. Dr. Gilmore testified that Torres's mental retardation rendered him unable to understand several legal concepts, including confessions, juries, the right to remain silent, and the right to counsel; however, Torres could understand the nature of the court proceedings generally, would take the advice of his attorney, and might understand a plea bargain. Dr. Gilmore also testified that Torres does not cope well with stress and risked losing competence over the course of a long trial. On the basis of Torres's inability to understand legal concepts and his vulnerability to stress, the judge found him incompetent to stand trial.
The Commonwealth then petitioned for the civil commitment of Torres under G. L. c. 123, § 16 (c). After a hearing in March, 2003, a District Court judge determined that Torres did not pose a substantial risk of harm to himself or others by reason of mental illness and therefore was not subject to commitment. See G. L. c. 123, § 16 (c) ().1 The Commonwealth then sought review of Torres's initial bail order, contending that Torres had become a flight risk because he was no longer competent to stand trial but not under an order of commitment. At the hearing on the Commonwealth's motion to review the bail order, the judge questioned, sua sponte, whether a bail hearing could be held for a defendant found incompetent to stand trial. After argument, the judge determined that such a hearing could not be held because it violated Torres's statutory right to participate in such a hearing and his constitutional right to due process. However, because the case raised an important and doubtful question of law, the judge reported the following question to the Appeals Court, pursuant to Mass. R. Crim. P. 34, 378 Mass. 905 (1979):
"Is it permissible to conduct a bail hearing under G. L. c. 276, § 57, in circumstances in which the Commonwealth seeks an order increasing the amount of bail, when the defendant is incompetent and unable to assist his lawyer in his defense?"
We transferred the case to this court on our own motion.
2. Discussion. The statute authorizing a judge in the Superior Court to set bail, G. L. c. 276, § 57, provides in relevant part:
"A justice of the . . . superior court . . . may inquire into the case and admit [a] prisoner or witness to bail if he determines that such release will reasonably assure the appearance of the person before the court and will not endanger the safety of any other person or the community. . . ."
While this section of the bail statute makes no mention of a bail hearing or a defendant's right to participate in such a hearing,2 it has long been the law in the Commonwealth that a "defendant is entitled to a reasonable opportunity to be heard on the matter of bail and to be represented by counsel at such a hearing." Matter of Troy, 364 Mass. 15, 29-30 (1973).3 This practice is consistent with principles of due process embodied in art. 12 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. See Coleman v. Alabama, 399 U.S. 1, 9 (1970) (opinion of Brennan, J.) (); Commonwealth v. Priestley, 419 Mass. 678, 682 n.5 (1995) (); McClain v. Swenson, 435 F.2d 327, 330 (8th Cir. 1970) (). We do not perceive that there is a statutory bar to conducting a bail hearing for a defendant found incompetent to stand trial, beyond what those same due process principles would require.
"Minimum due process varies with context." Spence v. Gormley, 387 Mass. 258, 274 (1982). It is "not a technical conception with a fixed content," Cafeteria & Restaurant Workers Union, Local 473 v. McElroy, 367 U.S. 886, 895 (1961), quoting Joint Anti-Fascist Comm. v. McGrath, 341 U.S. 123, 162-163 (1951) (Frankfurter, J., concurring), but a "flexible" concept that "calls for such procedural protections as the particular situation demands," Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U.S. 319, 334 (1976), quoting Morrissey v. Brewer, 408 U.S. 471, 481 (1972). Nevertheless, three distinct factors guide our analysis where, as here, government action affects a protected liberty interest:4
"First, the private interest that will be affected by the official action; second, the risk of an erroneous deprivation of such interest through the procedures used, and the probable value, if any, of additional or substitute procedural safeguards; and finally, the Government's interest, including the function involved and the fiscal and administrative burdens that the additional or substitute procedural requirement would entail."
Spence v. Gormley, supra, quoting Mathews v. Eldridge, supra at 335.
Both the private and governmental interests at stake in a bail proceeding are significant. A defendant faces a clear deprivation of his right to be free from restraint pending trial. See Aime v. Commonwealth, 414 Mass. 667, 676-677 (1993). While, in most cases, "[i]f a defendant is held pending trial, the consequences to him, although significant, are temporary," Querubin v. Commonwealth, 440 Mass. 108, 118 (2003), a defendant's incapacity to stand trial makes his interest in avoiding error at a bail hearing even more important than that of a defendant who is merely held pending a certain speedy trial. Counterbalancing this interest is the Commonwealth's substantial interest in "secur[ing] the presence of a defendant at trial to ensure that, if the defendant is guilty, justice will be served." Id. at 113. Accord Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 534 (1979) ().5
We thus turn to the third factor to be considered, the risk of an erroneous deprivation of a defendant's liberty interest. In essence, we must determine how likely it is that a defendant's incompetence to stand trial will result in his bail being set at a meaningfully higher level than it would be if he were competent.6 Torres argues that his inability fully to assist his counsel at the bail hearing creates an unacceptably high risk of error. Thus, the specific nature of the inquiry undertaken at a bail hearing, as well as the extent and nature of the incompetency, are relevant considerations in the due process analysis.
With respect to the nature of the inquiry, the factors that a judge is to consider when conducting a bail hearing are "(1) the nature and circumstances of the offense charged, (2) the accused's family ties, (3) his financial resources, (4) his length of residence in the community, (5) his character and mental condition, (6) his record of convictions and appearances at court proceedings or of any previous flight to avoid prosecution or (7) any failure to appear at any court proceedings." Querubin v. Commonwealth, supra at 115 n.6, quoting Reporters' Notes to Mass. R. Crim. P. 6, Mass. Ann. Laws, Rules of Criminal Procedure 61 (LexisNexis 1997). As the enumeration of these "familiar, straightforward, and relatively simple" factors makes clear, "[t]he inquiry at a bail proceeding under § 57 where the only issue is the amount of bail that will reasonably assure the defendant's presence at trial involves the presentation of evidence that, in the vast majority of cases, is undisputed, a matter of public record, or readily explained." Querubin v. Commonwealth, supra at 118. While a defendant able fully to assist in his own defense might be better at providing information...
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