In re Tavares

• Decision Date: 14 November 2005
• Docket Number: No. 2002-604-M.P.,2002-604-M.P.
• Citation: 885 A.2d 139
• Parties: In re Anthony TAVARES.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

885 A.2d 139

In re Anthony TAVARES.

No. 2002-604-M.P.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

November 14, 2005.

Sue Ellen M. Dunn, Cranston, for Petitioner.

Catherine A. Gibran, Providence, for Respondent.

Present: WILLIAMS, C.J., GOLDBERG, FLAHERTY, SUTTELL, and ROBINSON, JJ.

OPINION

Justice FLAHERTY, for the Court.

A challenge to the authority of a Superior Court justice to continue a forensic commitment to ensure that a criminal defendant remains competent brings this matter before the Court. The petitioner, the Department of Mental Health, Retardation and Hospitals (MHRH or department), contends that the hearing justice improperly ordered the respondent, Anthony Tavares, to remain committed at MHRH's forensic unit after an examining physician made a finding of competency.

In November 2001, Tavares was arrested for the murder of his social worker, Glen Hayes. Shortly thereafter, a competency evaluation ordered by a judge of the District Court determined that Tavares was not competent to stand trial. Pursuant to G.L. 1956 § 40.1-5.3-3, Tavares was transferred to the forensic unit at Eleanor Slater Hospital (ESH) for the purpose of restoring his competency.¹ After an extended period of intensive treatment, Tavares' counsel and counsel for the state stipulated to the admission into evidence of a medical report concluding that Tavares had been restored to competency. The hearing justice nonetheless ordered him to remain at the forensic unit because the justice was concerned that he would decompensate before or during his trial if he was returned to prison.

MHRH argues that the hearing justice erred when he ordered Tavares' commitment to continue after his competency was restored, contending that § 40.1-5.3-3 of the forensic statute compels the immediate termination of commitment upon a finding of competency, and that judges do not have discretion to order otherwise. On October 11, 2002, MHRH petitioned for certiorari. This Court granted certiorari on May 22, 2003. For the reasons set forth herein, we affirm the order of the Superior Court.

I Facts and Procedural History²

A. The Murder of Glen Hayes

Anthony Tavares is a deeply troubled man. Over the years, he has been hospitalized many times for serious mental illness, including schizophrenia, and he frequently has been in trouble with the law, sometimes for acts of violence. By November 9, 2001, Tavares' ability to distinguish his delusions from reality had nearly vanished.

On that fateful day, Glen Hayes, a substance abuse specialist, and Victor Moniz, a psychiatric nurse, visited Tavares in connection with their employment at Johnston Mental Health Services. The two mental health professionals went to Tavares' home to deliver his medication. In advance of their arrival, Moniz called Tavares to let him know they were coming. Tavares asked whether they had "called the cops" on him, and then mumbled something unintelligible and hung up. Concerned, Moniz called back; Tavares told them to come by, but asked them to hurry, because he "had something to do."

Around 5 p.m., Hayes and Moniz arrived at the Evergreen Apartments in Cranston, Rhode Island, where Tavares lived with his mother. A smiling and genial Tavares answered the doorbell and told the two workers that he was doing well. After some small talk, Moniz proffered Tavares his medication, which he accepted. Ominously, however, Tavares explained that he took the medication only when he felt that he needed it.

Tavares invited them up to his apartment to sit and talk for a while. Although they had delivered medications to Tavares before, he had never invited them in to visit. Moniz asked if anyone else was home, and Tavares responded affirmatively. Still, Moniz felt "a little leery" as they followed Tavares upstairs to the apartment. He turned to Hayes and asked him if he was comfortable going into Tavares' apartment, and Hayes indicated that he was.

Once inside, the three men sat in the living room. Hayes sat next to Tavares, and Moniz, who was still wary, purposely chose a seat near the door. As they talked, the conversation grew increasingly bizarre. Tavares asked the men whether they could lend him some money, and when they told him that they could not, he asked how much money they had. Moniz grew alarmed by Tavares' aggressive tone, and he tried to change the subject of the conversation. Tavares asked the men if they would pray to Satan with him, and they declined. He asked Hayes if he prayed to God. "Sometimes," Hayes replied. Again, an apprehensive Moniz tried to change the course of discussion.

While the men were talking, Tavares' mother, who had been in the kitchen, came into the living room. She noticed that her son was smoking and flicking his ashes onto the floor, and she calmly asked him to smoke outside, a request that he angrily refused. She returned to the kitchen and the men resumed their talk.

When it appeared that the agitated Tavares had calmed down, Hayes arose from the couch and indicated that it was time for him and Moniz to leave. Without any warning, Tavares jumped up from the couch and shouted, "where do you think you're going!" He violently pushed Hayes, and Moniz noticed that in his right hand he held an eight-inch serrated knife. Moniz made a vain effort to restrain Tavares, but he was unable to prevent him from violently stabbing Hayes just above the left eyebrow.³ Tavares then struck Moniz with his fist, knocking him backwards into a wall.

Tavares' mother heard the commotion and rushed into the room. She saw Hayes lying on the floor and screamed, "Anthony! Anthony! What have you done!" With Tavares distracted by her yelling, Moniz jumped to his feet, fled down the stairs and ran outside. He hid behind a row of bushes and waited to see if Tavares had followed him. He then ran to a neighbor's house and asked her to call 911. By the time the police arrived, however, Tavares had fled the scene. Hayes was rushed to the hospital with the knife still protruding from his forehead, but he was later pronounced dead from his wounds.

Tavares would explain later that he killed Hayes because Hayes had "broken into his mind." He said that he thought Hayes and Moniz were working for Satan, and that they were at his home either to rape his mother or to force him to rape his mother. At the time of the murder, he thought Hayes was already dead — a "walking dead" — and that he had to stab Hayes to defend himself. Tavares also reported that after he fled the murder scene, but before he was arrested, he drove to the shore. He sat on the beach and prayed with a rosary. He added that, when he looked up at the sky, he saw God, poised with a knife and ready to kill him.

B. Tavares' Personal History

Anthony Tavares' life story is tragic indeed. He was born in 1979, the middle child of three. His older sister, who died in a car accident in 1994, chronically abused him, and was herself treated several times for mental illness. His father, who is schizophrenic, committed murder by stabbing a man with an ice pick.⁴

Tavares first began to show signs of mental illness when he was only four years old. His mother sought treatment for him because she "had a multitude of complaints about his behavior." By age six, he was admitted to his first psychiatric treatment program, and he was expelled from mainstream education in the first grade. Throughout his childhood, he was continually shuffled between special schools, residential care facilities, juvenile detention, and hospitals. According to Tavares, "[t]hey used to try to put me everywhere * * *. They used to say I was mental."

As a child, Tavares was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), but he did not take his medication. His behavior, and his mental health, never improved, but worsened with time. By age eleven, he began to suffer paranoid and delusional symptoms. He also grew more violent; as a young teen, he was charged with assault on several occasions, had threatened to kill a boy, and had threatened people with knives. Throughout adolescence, Tavares continued to deteriorate. His history during that period of his life includes suicide attempts, arson, and assault, as well as several psychiatric hospitalizations.

Tragically, Tavares fared no better as he grew into adulthood. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia at age nineteen. Early in 2000, he was involuntarily hospitalized due to audio and visual hallucinations of animals killing each other, paranoia, and a belief that the devil was stalking him. Tavares' condition improved with medication, and he was discharged with a diagnosis of chronic paranoid schizophrenia. Later that year, however, he reported to his doctor that the television was talking to him, that he had figured out how to clone people, and that people were trying to genetically alter him.

When Tavares was hospitalized again a year later, he still was suffering from hallucinations. He told one of his doctors that he "was being raped and mugged by God, the mob and doctors," and that "the devil invaded his body." He also believed that his thoughts and feelings were being reported over the radio. Again, Tavares' symptoms improved with medication, and he was discharged with a diagnosis of chronic paranoid schizophrenia.

In the weeks preceding the murder of Hayes, Tavares had stopped taking his medication, and his mental health was rapidly declining. People who knew him said that he had become highly agitated, that he talked to the television, and sometimes just stared into space. He thought he was being watched, and complained of voices in his head. He would wave his hands in the air and yell "get out of here!" He believed that devils were telling him to do things, so he sought out an exorcism and wanted to build a church to keep the devils away.

C. The Present Action

On November 10, 2001, Tavares was arrested and charged with the murder of Glen Hayes and eluding arrest, and he was held without...