Goode v. State, 51480
| Decision Date | 07 September 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. 51480,51480 |
| Parties | Arthur F. GOODE, III, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Jack O. Johnson, Public Defender, and W. C. McLain, Asst. Public Defender, Bartow, for appellant.
Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen., and C. Marie King, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for appellee.
This is a direct appeal from a judgment adjudging defendant guilty of murder in the first degree and a sentence of death.
On the morning of March 5th, 1976, a ten year old child, whom we shall refer to as "Jason", waited for a school bus with other children near his home. A young man, identified by the children as defendant, approached them and began a conversation. Defendant eventually left the bus stop with Jason and walked into a wooded area. A search began when Jason failed to return from school. The next day Jason's nude and beaten body, almost concealed under palmetto fronds, was found in the woods near Jason's home. Jason suffered an anal sexual assault before his death.
The defendant went to Maryland where he had previously escaped from a mental hospital. In Maryland, he kidnapped two young boys and killed one of them in Virginia. Defendant admitted to the survivor that he had murdered Jason. He was tried in Virginia and convicted of murder, receiving a life sentence.
Defendant gave a statement in which he demanded his return to Florida so that he could be convicted of Jason's murder and be executed. Upon his return to Florida, defendant gave a full confession to the state attorney. At his trial he again gave a detailed confession and expressed a desire to be convicted and executed.
Prior to the trial defendant was represented by privately retained counsel. A motion suggesting insanity was filed and heard by the court. Four psychiatrists testified. All of them agreed that defendant suffered from a mental disorder but only one concluded he was incompetent to stand trial or assist in his defense.
The latter psychiatrist, Dr. George W. Barnard, gave the following testimony, in part:
On the other hand, Doctors Tin Myo Than, Robert J. Wald, and Mordecai Haber were of the opinion that defendant was competent to stand trial and assist in his defense.
Dr. Than's testimony contains the following:
Dr. Wald's testimony contains the following:
". . . Mr. Goode is an individual who is, in contrast to the opinion of the first psychiatrist who testified, a nonpsychotic individual. He is making a choice based upon nonpsychotic reasons, and his reasoning basically consists of his feeling that he has already been convicted of a murder, Number One. Number Two, he wishes not to spend the rest of his life in prison. Number Three, despite his insistence that he feels no remorse he does indicate that he still considers himself to be dangerous and in a very vague way, but in a very true way indicates that somewhere within himself there is the thought that he should not be allowed to continue to go on in his present course which includes mental illness, which includes murdering young children.
Q If I explained to him the McNaghten Rule in detail are you familiar with that rule?
A Yes.
Q Could he comprehend and understand what I'm saying?
A Yes, sir, he could.
Q Would he comprehend and understand the significance of the rule?
A I believe he would, and I believe he could.
Q If I explained to him trial tactics, his right to remain silent, for instance, the right of defense of insanity, how it's presented, how it could be used, both tactically and factually, could he understand and appreciate what I as the Judge or a lawyer were telling him?
A He could understand and appreciate all of that information, and in my clinical evaluation I made an attempt to talk with him about other alleged offenses and he fully understands the scope of this current investigation and possible trial. He fully understands exactly what he is accused of, what the penalties are. He stressed the wish not to incriminate himself in other areas. He has a, I would say in a nonpsychiatric term, a fairly wily understanding of what is going on."
The testimony of Dr. Haber contains the following:
". . . he is not suffering from a mental disorder to the extent that he cannot assist his counsel in the preparation of his case and not to the extent that he cannot make rational decisions in his own best interest."
After this hearing, but before trial, the defendant discharged his privately retained counsel and asserted his right to represent himself. The court then interrogated the defendant:
The court then discharged the privately retained counsel and relieved him of all further responsibility except to fully advise and assist court appointed counsel in turning over the evidence, files, information, theories of defense and anything else that would be of assistance to the court appointed counsel.
Defendant says that every criminal defendant has the right to the assistance of counsel or the right to represent himself. However, a mixture of partially appearing for himself and partially being represented by counsel is not a constitutional right and was error.
Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806, 95 S.Ct. 2525, 45 L.Ed.2d 562 (1975), held that the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution required states to afford the accused the right of self-representation. Florida has historically recognized the right of a defendant in a criminal case to represent himself. See Deeb v. State, 131 Fla. 362, 179 So. 894 (...
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