Garron v. Bergstrom, 64846
| Citation | 453 So.2d 405 |
| Decision Date | 12 July 1984 |
| Docket Number | No. 64846,64846 |
| Parties | Joseph GARRON, Petitioner, v. Edward H. BERGSTROM, Jr., etc., Respondent. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Florida |
Robert E. Jagger, Public Defender, and Floyd E. Ferguson and Robert S. McClure, Asst. Public Defenders, Sixth Judicial Circuit, New Port Richey, for petitioner.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., and William I. Munsey, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for respondent.
This cause is before us on a petition for writ of mandamus. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(8), Fla. Const.
Petitioner was charged with two counts of first-degree murder. He was adjudicated indigent and a public defender was appointed to represent him. The trial court, in response to petitioner's motion pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.216(a), appointed a psychiatric expert to aid in the preparation of his defense.
The petitioner subsequently filed a motion for a court determination of competency to stand trial, pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.210, and a notice of intention to rely upon insanity as a defense. The trial court appointed two mental health professionals to examine petitioner for the court. Upon receiving their reports, the court found that petitioner was incompetent to stand trial and committed him to a treatment facility.
Subsequently, after re-evaluation, the court found that petitioner was competent to stand trial. Defense counsel then moved for the appointment of an expert to assist in the preparation of petitioner's defense because the previously appointed expert had died in the interim. The trial court denied this motion, concluding that petitioner had already received the services of a court-appointed expert and was not entitled to the appointment of another expert.
Petitioner seeks a writ of mandamus requiring the respondent to appoint an expert to assist in the preparation of his defense. We grant the relief sought. In our recent decision in State v. Hamilton, 448 So.2d 1007 (Fla.1984), we held that
when counsel for an indigent defendant has "reason to believe" that his client "may be incompetent to stand trial or that he may have been insane at the time of the offense," the defendant is entitled to have the court appoint one expert to assist in the preparation of his defense.
Id. at 1008. We determined in Hamilton that rule 3.216(a) gives the trial court no discretion in action to appoint an expert to assist in the preparation of a defense. The fact that the...
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Tingle v. State, 85-1619
...must be appointed to assist in the preparation of a defendant's case. State v. Hamilton, 448 So.2d 1007 (Fla.1984), Garron v. Bergstrom, 453 So.2d 405 (Fla.1984). That rule (a) When in any criminal case counsel for a defendant adjudged to be indigent or partially indigent, whether public de......
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Hall v. Haddock, 90-3759
...should cause us to reach a different result. We are also persuaded of the correctness of our result by the holding in Garron v. Bergstrom, 453 So.2d 405 (Fla.1984). There, the defendant was appointed an expert to assist him and he was found incompetent to stand trial. When he was subsequent......