Hall v. Catoe

• Decision Date: 09 August 2004
• Docket Number: No. 25850.,25850.
• Citation: 360 S.C. 353,601 S.E.2d 335
• Parties: Larry Eugene HALL, Petitioner, v. William D. CATOE, Director, South Carolina Department of Corrections, Respondent.
• Court: South Carolina Supreme Court

360 S.C. 353

601 S.E.2d 335

Larry Eugene HALL, Petitioner, v. William D. CATOE, Director, South Carolina Department of Corrections, Respondent.

No. 25850.

Supreme Court of South Carolina.

Submitted March 17, 2004.

Decided August 9, 2004.

Rehearing Denied September 9, 2004.

Teresa L. Norris and Jerome H. Nickerson, of the Center of Capital Litigation, both of Columbia, for Petitioner.

Attorney General Henry Dargan McMaster, Chief Deputy Attorney General John W. McIntosh, Assistant Deputy Attorney General Donald J. Zelenka, all of Columbia, for Respondent. Chief Justice TOAL:

We granted certiorari to determine whether the post-conviction relief (PCR) court erred by denying inmate Larry Hall ("Hall") relief on the death sentence he received as a result of a murder conviction. We remand Hall's case for a new sentencing proceeding.

FACTUAL/PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In July 1991, Hall committed a series of crimes in an Easley Wal-Mart parking lot. To begin, Hall robbed and sexually assaulted his first victim at gunpoint. Hall then ordered her to walk to the back parking lot with him. A Wal-Mart employee noticed Hall's strange behavior and drove a truck through Hall and the victim's path. Hall allowed her to escape and then walked into the woods behind the store waving his gun in the air.

A half hour later, Hall approached two teenage girls, who were sisters, in the back parking lot. In front of numerous witnesses and without provocation, Hall shot and killed the two girls. When the police arrived and finally cornered Hall, he challenged the police with a piece of wood and dared the police to shoot him.

Hall has both mental and physical disabilities. He currently takes, and was taking during trial, Dilantin and Phenobarbital to prevent epileptic seizures. Dilantin has a sedative effect similar to the effects of alcohol. At the time of his arraignment, Hall had twice the amount of Dilantin in his bloodstream than the normal therapeutic amount.¹ Hall's sister, mother, and former employer all testified that Hall's seizures and medications make it very difficult for him to complete simple everyday tasks and that he is often in a "daze" or "in the fog." Hall has a "grossly abnormal" EEG,² as the result of his having epilepsy. Hall has been diagnosed with "sensory dysfunction," deficient language abilities, and deficient organizational abilities. He suffers from both organic personality disorder — which may cause uncontrollable mood shifts and outbursts of aggression — and schizoid personality, which makes Hall indifferent to praise or punishment. Hall is also borderline mentally retarded, having an IQ of 72.

In August 1991, six months before Hall's trial, a group of doctors at the Hall Institute in Columbia evaluated Hall and found him competent to stand trial. One doctor, however, testified that Hall's competency was "borderline" and a "touch and go" issue. Hall was not evaluated again before his trial.

During closing argument, the solicitor directed the jury to weigh the worth of Hall's life against the lives of Hall's victims: "[w]hat are the lives of these two girls worth? Are they worth at least the life of a man, the psychopath, this killer who stabs and stabs and kills and rapes and kidnaps?" Hall was then convicted of murder, kidnapping, first-degree criminal sexual conduct, armed robbery, and resisting arrest and was sentenced to death.

Hall subsequently applied for PCR, and the PCR judge denied relief directing the state to draft an order, which the trial judge adopted in full, without alterations. This Court granted certiorari to review the following issues:

I. Did the PCR judge err in applying a heightened burden of proof to determine whether Hall was competent to stand trial?

II. Was Hall's trial counsel ineffective for failing to object to the solicitor's closing argument, which compared the worth of Hall's life to the victims' lives?

III. Did the PCR judge err in adopting the state's proposed order in its entirety?

LAW/ANALYSIS

Standard of Review

This Court must determine whether any probative evidence exists to support the denial of post-conviction relief. Cherry v. State, 300 S.C. 115, 119, 386 S.E.2d 624, 626 (1989). If any probative evidence exists, the PCR judge's ruling should be upheld. Id.

I. COMPETENCY TO STAND TRIAL

A. Burden of Proof

Hall argues that the PCR judge applied the wrong standard of proof in deciding whether Hall was competent to stand trial. We disagree.

A defendant must prove that he is incompetent to stand trial by a "preponderance of the evidence." State v. Reed, 332 S.C. 35, 39, 503 S.E.2d 747, 749 (1998). Holding a criminal defendant to a "clear and convincing" burden to prove incompetence is a violation of due process. Cooper v. Oklahoma, 517 U.S. 348, 350, 116 S.Ct. 1373, 1375, 134 L.Ed.2d 498 (1996).

In his order, the PCR judge stated that Hall failed to establish "with credible and convincing evidence" that he was incompetent to stand trial. Hall argues that "credible and convincing" evidence is synonymous with "clear and convincing" evidence, which is not the appropriate standard of proof for determining a defendant's competency to stand trial. However, after reviewing the order in its entirety, we find that the trial judge used the correct burden of proof — a preponderance of the evidence. In fact, the PCR judge noted several times that Hall must prove his incompetence by a "preponderance of the evidence."

First, in his order, the PCR judge stated that "[i]n a state post-conviction relief hearing, the Applicant also bears the burden of proof and he is required to show by a preponderance of the evidence that he is entitled to relief. Rule 71.1(e), SCRCP. This Court finds that he has failed this burden."

Second, in finding that Hall was not prejudiced by ineffective assistance of counsel, the PCR judge stated, "Hall has a burden of proof at trial to show by a preponderance of the evidence that he was incompetent. This Court finds, to a reasonable probability, he has failed in his burden."

We note that the PCR judge's order should have been amended to exclude the "credible and convincing" language, alleviating any doubt concerning which standard the PCR judge applied. Nevertheless, after reviewing the order in its entirety, we find that the judge applied the proper standard — preponderance of the evidence — to determine whether Hall was competent to stand trial.

B. Evidence of Petitioner's Competency to Stand Trial

On July 16, 1991, three days after Hall's arrest, the trial court ordered Hall to be evaluated for his competency to stand trial. A group of doctors at the Hall Institute found Hall to be competent to stand trial, with one doctor reporting that Hall's mental state was a "close call" and a "touch and go" issue. Since the 1991 evaluations, the parties have accumulated a mass of evidence and engaged in a "battle of the experts" as to Hall's competency to stand trial. Hall argues that, although he was found competent in August 1991, he was not competent during his trial, which took place in January 1992. We find a sufficient amount of evidence supporting the PCR judge's conclusion that Hall was competent to stand trial.

Conviction of a criminal defendant who is not competent to stand trial violates the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment. Pate v. Robinson, 383 U.S. 375, 86 S.Ct. 836, 15 L.Ed.2d 815 (1966). This Court has held that to be competent to stand trial or continue trial, a defendant must have "a rational, as well as factual, understanding of the proceedings against him" and the "ability to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding." State v. Bell, 293 S.C. 391, 395-96, 360 S.E.2d 706, 708 (1987) (citing Dusky v. United States, 362 U.S. 402, 402, 80 S.Ct. 788, 4 L.Ed.2d 824 (1960)).

If there is "any evidence of probative value to support the post conviction judge's factual findings," we must affirm. Cherry, 300 S.C. at 119,386 S.E.2d at 626. Nevertheless, if the PCR judge makes an error of law, then this Court must reverse. Pierce v. State, 338 S.C. 139, 145, 526 S.E.2d 222, 225 (2000). In addition, the PCR judge has the duty to weigh the credibility of the doctors who have testified as to Hall's competency to stand trial. If the testimony supports the PCR judge's findings, then the findings should be upheld. Solomon v. State, 313 S.C. 526, 443 S.E.2d 540 (1994); Wade v. State, 308 S.C. 552, 419 S.E.2d 781 (1992) (a finding that testimony in support of allegations was unconvincing, without credibility, and untruthful will be upheld on appeal).

This Court has held that the PCR judge erred in granting relief on the basis that the defendant was not competent to stand trial when (1) counsel testified at the PCR hearing that he had no trouble communicating with the defendant; (2) the trial transcript showed that the defendant clearly understood the questions asked and responded in an appropriate manner; and (3) a forensic psychiatrist evaluated the defendant prior to trial and found the defendant's medical conditions did not affect his mental state. McLaughlin v. State, 352 S.C. 476, 575 S.E.2d 841 (2003).

Hall presents several arguments that he was incompetent to stand trial: (1) he has been diagnosed with an antisocial disorder; (2) his trial counsel testified that he believed that Hall was not competent during trial; (3) Hall suffered from a seizure the night before sentencing, indicating that he could have experienced periods of incompetency; (4) during trial, he had taken abnormal doses of Dilantin causing him to be groggy and sedated; and (5) his low IQ indicates he has the intelligence of an average eleven-year-old.

Conversely, the state presents a sufficient amount of probative evidence that Hall was competent to stand trial: (1) in August 1991, several psychologists conducted an extensive evaluation of Hall and found him to be competent to stand trial; (2) Dr. McKee, who...