Hall v. United States

• Decision Date: 13 May 1969
• Docket Number: No. 10992.,10992.
• Parties: James Edward HALL, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

410 F.2d 653 (1969)

James Edward HALL, Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, Appellee.

No. 10992.

United States Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit.

Argued February 7, 1969.

Decided May 13, 1969.

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Fred C. Alexander, Jr., Alexandria, Va., (Court-appointed counsel) for appellant.

Stefan C. Long, Asst. U. S. Atty., (C. V. Spratley, Jr., U. S. Atty., on brief) for appellee.

Before SOBELOFF, CRAVEN, and BUTZNER, Circuit Judges.

CRAVEN, Circuit Judge:

James Edward Hall seeks a third new trial after having been twice convicted and thrice sentenced for kidnapping. We deny his appeal and affirm the validity of his second trial and sentence, treating the third sentence as surplusage.

On prior appeal, Hall v. United States, 295 F.2d 26 (4th Cir. 1961), we noted that the kidnapping charge was not denied,¹ and that insanity at the time of commission of the act was Hall's sole defense. We held that there was evidence sufficient to raise a question of his sanity at the time of the commission of the offense and that the district court erred in not submitting that issue to the jury, and we remanded for a new trial.

On April 12, 1962, the second trial was held and Hall was again convicted by a jury. Consistent with the position taken in the prior appeal, Hall's counsel contended only that Hall was innocent by reason of insanity at the time of the offense. Such a defense posture, and the statements contained in our prior opinion, not unnaturally diverted the attention of the United States Attorney and the court to what was thought to be the only real issue at the trial. Other assignments of error on this appeal entirely unrelated to the insanity defense are grounded in this distraction. During the trial it was not suggested that Hall's behavior was bizarre or unusual or that he was unable to cooperate and intelligently communicate with and understand counsel. Insanity was urged at the time of the kidnapping; not at the time of the trial.

Sentencing was set for May 28. On that day, Hall and his lawyer appeared, and counsel moved the court for a further psychiatric examination of Hall, stating that his client seemed completely irrational and unreasonable, and expressing a non-medical opinion that Hall was presently insane. After colloquy with Hall's counsel and the Assistant United States Attorney, the district judge denied the motion for a further psychiatric examination, and after affording Hall the right to allocution, sentenced him to life imprisonment with provision that he be immediately eligible for parole in the discretion of the Parole Board. The district judge reasoned that the entire second trial in April was devoted to the question of Hall's mental competency and mental condition and that it was futile to pursue the matter again in May. He also noted that Hall had been examined by the jail medical doctor (who was said to have had some courses in psychiatry) quite recently. Although the record is not entirely clear, the statements of counsel indicate that the jail doctor had reported that Hall was "all right" on the day of sentencing. No appeal was taken from the judgment and sentence of May 28, 1962.

In August 1965, Hall filed a motion to vacate sentence under 28 U.S.C. § 2255, alleging 19 errors in his second trial, one of which was that the 1962 sentencing was invalid because of his mental incompetence on May 28th. During the August 1965 hearing it appeared that neither Hall nor his counsel contended that Hall was then incompetent. Without ruling that the 1962 sentence had been improper or irregular or invalid because of the alleged mental incompetence at the time of sentencing, the district court, nevertheless, resentenced Hall at the conclusion of the hearing on the motion to vacate sentence in August 1965. The district judge thought that since the jury had determined Hall's mental competency at the time of the commission of the offense, and since it had never been urged by either Hall or his counsel that he was incompetent during the April 1962 second trial, and since it was now conceded that Hall was mentally competent in August 1965, his possible incompetency in May 1962 when he was sentenced was, at most, an irregularity which could be corrected by resentencing at a time when he was admittedly competent.

We treat the 1965 resentencing as surplusage and, therefore, need not consider its effect. We hold that the May 1962 sentencing was not invalid and that the district court did not abuse its discretion in refusing, under the circumstances, to institute further judicial proceedings to determine the competency of the accused to be sentenced. Our decision that the 1962 sentence was a valid final judgment has the procedural effect of invalidating Hall's purported direct appeal from the sentence and judgment imposed. The time for appeal from the 1962 sentence has, of course, long since expired. Since the 1965 resentencing is treated as surplusage, it follows that this appeal is from the 2255 collateral attack on the 1962 sentence rather than a direct appeal from the resentencing in 1965 as contended by Hall.

Ordinarily our scope of review would be sharply narrowed and limited to errors of constitutional dimension going to the fundamental fairness of the trial. See Kaufman v. United States, 394 U.S. 217, 89 S.Ct. 1068, 22 L.Ed.2d 227 (Mar. 24, 1969). But in this peculiar fact situation, considering the manifestation of doubt by the district judge that his 1962 sentencing was valid, we think it inappropriate to apply the usual rule and instead treat the several assignments of error as fully as we would on direct appeal.

THE 1962 SENTENCING

18 U.S.C. § 4244 requires the court on proper motion to order a psychiatric examination for a defendant when at any time after arrest and before imposition of sentence there is reasonable cause to believe that he is insane or otherwise mentally incompetent. It is Hall's claim that such reasonable cause was provided by his lawyer's report to the court that Hall was irrational and insane on the day set for sentencing. We agree, but it does not follow, we think, that upon such a showing the district court is stripped of discretion and must blindly and automatically implement the statutory machinery.

Most of the cases considering allegations of defendants' mental incompetency are concerned with alleged incompetency prior to or at trial. As the Supreme Court has said, the

"test must be whether he has sufficient present ability to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding — and whether he has a rational as well as factual understanding of the proceedings against him." Dusky v. United States, 362 U.S. 402, 80 S.Ct. 788, 4 L.Ed.2d 824 (1960).

The reason for this concern is obvious, as the mental condition of an accused bears directly on his ability to participate effectively and intelligently in his own defense. When the issue of mental competency relates only to the time of sentencing, there is less danger that any substantive rights of a defendant would be prejudiced if he then suffers some degree of incompetence. But the idea of sentencing an insane person to prison remains offensive and is incompatible with the dignity of the judicial process.²

The accused's "mental competency" under 18 U.S.C. § 4244 is to be be determined by the trial court, and its determination is not to be set aside on review unless clearly arbitrary or unwarranted. Feguer v. United States, 302 F.2d 214, 236 (8th Cir. 1962). In making such a determination, the presence of some degree of mental illness is not to be equated with incompetence to be sentenced. Cf. Lebron v. United States, 97 U.S.App.D.C. 133, 229 F.2d 16, cert. denied, 351 U.S. 974, 76 S.Ct. 1035, 100 L.Ed. 1492 (1955). We have previously noted that Hall's entire second trial had been devoted to the question of his mental competency. Three psychiatrists had testified and a letter from a fourth had been admitted. It is true that the issue at trial was his mental condition at the time of the offense, but the psychiatric testimony was not confined to that particular point in time. We have also noted that the jail doctor, Dr. Love, was acknowledged by defense counsel to have concluded that Hall was not insane shortly prior to sentencing. Since the court was thoroughly acquainted with Hall's mental condition, and had recently (during the prior month) been exposed to the testimony of 3 psychiatrists, we are not prepared to say that the court's determination that Hall was competent for sentencing was unwarranted, Feguer v. United States, 302 F.2d 214, 238 (8th Cir. 1962); McIntosh v. Pescor, 175 F.2d 95 (6th Cir. 1949); cf. Nobles v. Georgia, 168 U.S. 398, 18 S.Ct. 87, 42 L.Ed. 515 (1897), and we reject Hall's contention that repeated psychological examinations are required by the statute. See Hereden v. United States, 286 F.2d 526 (10th Cir. 1961).

Under the peculiar circumstances of the case, we think the mandate of 18 U.S.C. § 4244 inapplicable. It is an unspoken premise of the statute that there has been no psychiatric examination sufficiently close in point of time to aid the court in determining competency. If it were not so, any defendant who wished to avoid sentencing could do so indefinitely by day-to-day assertions of incompetency, for that he was sane yesterday does not foreclose the possibility of insanity today.

In reaching the merits, we reject the proposition that a federal prisoner may not collaterally attack his judgment and sentence on the ground that he was insane at the time of sentence if this issue was raised and determined by the trial court, as it was here. Floyd v. United States, 365 F.2d 368, 375 n.10 (5th Cir. 1966); Nunley v. Taylor, 330 F.2d 611 (10th Cir. 1964); see Kaufman v. United States, 394 U.S. 217, 89 S.Ct. 1068, 1074 and n. 8, 22 L.Ed.2d 227 (Mar. 24, 1969). But see Hereden v. United States, 286 F.2d 526 (10th Cir. 1...