Ex parte Janezic

• Decision Date: 14 November 1997
• Citation: 723 So.2d 725
• Parties: Ex parte Eileen JANEZIC. (Re Eileen Janezic v. State).
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

723 So.2d 725

Ex parte Eileen JANEZIC.

(Re Eileen Janezic v. State).

1960708.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

November 14, 1997.

Robert E. Willisson of Simpson, Simpson & Willisson, Huntsville, for Petitioner.

Bill Pryor, atty. gen., and Joseph G.L. Marston III, asst. atty. gen., for respondent.

MADDOX, Justice.

We granted the writ of certiorari in this case to review a determination by the Court of Criminal Appeals that a defendant, who had previously been found competent by a jury to stand trial, was not entitled to another competency hearing despite evidence presented at the defendant's sentencing suggesting that the defendant's mental condition had deteriorated during the course of her trial to the extent that she had become incompetent to stand trial.

On August 26, 1993, the Reverend Jerry Simon was shot and killed while leaving the Valley Fellowship Church in Huntsville. Eileen Janezic was convicted of murdering Simon and was sentenced to life imprisonment. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Janezic's conviction, with two Judges dissenting. Janezic v. State, 723 So.2d 696 (Ala. Crim.App.1996). Janezic petitioned for certiorari review, arguing that the evidence demonstrated: (1) that she was legally insane at the time of the murder and (2) that she was incompetent to stand trial and that this was evidenced by the fact that a mental health professional had changed his opinion about Janezic's mental condition. We hold that Janezic is entitled to a hearing, if feasible, to determine her competency during the guilt-determination phase of her trial.¹

Janezic suffers from a serious mental disease and has been diagnosed as having such a disease since at least 1989, when she was involuntarily committed to a mental institution.² Partly because of her prior commitment, Janezic's competency was at issue at the beginning of the proceedings in this case; therefore, in June 1994, pursuant to Rule 11.6(b), Ala. R.Crim. P., the trial judge conducted a separate jury trial in order to determine whether Janezic was competent to stand trial.

Two psychologists testified at this pre-trial competency hearing: Dr. Lawrence Maier and Dr. Roger Rinn. Both experts agreed that Janezic was hampering her defense by not helping her counsel formulate an insanity defense, but they disagreed on the reasons behind Janezic's refusal to enter a plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect.

Dr. Maier, a private practitioner under contract with the Alabama Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, had been appointed by the trial court to examine Janezic pursuant to the State's request. Dr. Maier testified that he believed Janezic was competent to stand trial because, in his opinion, Janezic had sufficient understanding of the proceedings and charges against her and sufficient ability to cooperate with her attorneys. Dr. Maier acknowledged that Janezic was hampering her defense by refusing to assist her counsel in formulating an insanity defense, but he did not believe that Janezic's resistance to an insanity defense was based on her mental illness. Instead, he believed that Janezic had deliberately chosen to resist an insanity plea because she believed that such resistance was the most effective way to avoid being convicted.

Dr. Rinn, a private practitioner, testified for the defense. Dr. Rinn testified that he believed Janezic was not competent to stand trial. Specifically, he believed that Janezic's mental disease was the cause of her refusal to help formulate an insanity defense; therefore, Dr. Rinn believed, Janezic's mental disease made her unable to assist her attorney.

Faced with this conflicting expert testimony, the jury determined that Janezic was competent, and the trial judge ordered the trial to commence. Janezic has not challenged this initial competency determination.

Janezic having been adjudged competent, her trial began on October 17, 1994. On October 25, 1994, at the close of the trial, the judge instructed the jury on the verdicts of guilty, not guilty, and not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. The jury returned a verdict of guilty, and the trial judge scheduled a sentencing hearing for November 15, 1994.

On November 15, 1994, at the beginning of the sentencing hearing, Janezic's attorneys notified the trial judge that they had, without court approval, asked Dr. Lawrence Maier to reexamine Janezic's mental state. They stated that they wished to offer Dr. Maier's testimony to address both Janezic's competency for purposes of sentencing and, possibly, her competency during the course of the guilt-determination phase of her trial. The trial judge allowed Dr. Maier to testify, but limited the area of examination to whether Janezic was competent for purposes of sentencing. The trial judge specifically stated that he would not revisit the issue of Janezic's competency to stand trial in the earlier proceedings. Therefore, although Dr. Maier briefly referred to observations he had made during the course of the trial, he directly testified only as to Janezic's competency on November 15, 1994, for purposes of sentencing.³

Dr. Maier testified that he had examined Janezic the day before the sentencing hearing and had formed a new opinion regarding her competency. Specifically, he stated:

"[M]y opinion now is that [Janezic] has deteriorated significantly psychologically since I saw her last in June. There are manifest and obvious signs of what we call schizophrenia. This is impairing her reality contact markedly, and I don't think she is capable of rational thought or decision-making at this time."

Dr. Maier also testified that he observed Janezic during the guilt-determination phase of the trial, while he was giving his testimony relating to Janezic's insanity plea. He explained that, at that time, Janezic seemed to possess "marked disinterest and very little awareness or concern about what was going on." However, he also stated that "my evaluation was quite brief, and my concern was to testify, not to observe at that time."

Based on this testimony, the trial judge postponed sentencing and committed Janezic to the custody of the Alabama Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation to receive appropriate medical treatment and for further evaluation as to her competency to be sentenced.

On July 6, 1995, the trial court conducted another hearing to determine whether Janezic was competent to be sentenced. At this hearing, Dr. Wilburn Rivenbark, a forensic psychologist employed by the State of Alabama, testified that Janezic's condition had improved in response to medication and that she was competent to be sentenced. The trial court agreed, and it sentenced Janezic to life imprisonment. Janezic has not challenged this decision.

In July 1995, Janezic filed a motion for a new trial, alleging, among other things, that she had been incompetent to stand trial and that the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrated that she was insane at the time of the killing. The trial judge did not rule on the motion, and it was denied by operation of law under Rule 24.4, Ala. R.Crim. P.

Janezic argues that she was entitled to a competency hearing because, she says, the evidence demonstrated that her mental condition had deteriorated during the course of her trial to the extent that she was incompetent to stand trial.⁴ The Court of Criminal Appeals, in a split decision, affirmed Janezic's conviction, without addressing the issue of Janezic's competency to stand trial; however, Judge Patterson, in his dissent, asserted that the case should, at a minimum, be remanded to the circuit court for a hearing to address Janezic's motion for a new trial. We agree; we conclude that this case should be remanded for further consideration of the question of Janezic's competency to stand trial during the guilt-determination phase of her trial.

Trial of a person who is incompetent violates the due process guarantees. Davis v. Alabama, 545 F.2d 460 (5th Cir. 1977). Therefore, when a trial court is faced with facts that create a reasonable and bona fide doubt as to the mental competency of the defendant to stand trial, the trial court must take steps to assure that a reasonable legal determination of competency is reached. See, e.g., Atwell v. State, 354 So.2d 30, 35 (Ala.Crim.App.1977), cert. denied, 354 So.2d 39 (Ala.1978). In other words, in such situations, the trial court must inquire into the defendant's competency, generally by conducting a competency hearing. Ex parte LaFlore, 445 So.2d 932 (Ala.1983). In this case, Janezic was afforded a competency hearing, but it appears to be uncontroverted that the only mental health professional who had testified at the pre-trial competency hearing that Janezic was competent changed his opinion after she was convicted and that this change in opinion was based in part on what he had observed while testifying during the guilt-determination phase of Janezic's trial.

In her motion for a new trial, Janezic referred to Dr. Maier's change of opinion, and Judge Patterson's dissent similarly focused on Dr. Maier's decision to come forward at the sentencing hearing. We view Dr. Maier's change of opinion as the heart of Janezic's incompetency claim.⁵ Dr. Maier was the only expert who had testified that Janezic was competent to stand trial; indeed, in light of the wealth of evidence regarding Janezic's mental condition, it appears that Dr. Maier's earlier testimony was the only ground supporting a determination that Janezic was competent.

By the middle of November 1994, Dr. Maier's opinion regarding Janezic's competency had changed and, in fact, was different from the opinion he had expressed in June 1994 at the pre-trial competency hearing. Dr. Maier's change of opinion was, at least in part, motivated by his observations of Janezic during the guilt-determination phase of the trial. At the sentencing hearing, the trial court was informed of this change in opinion, and Janezic's c...