People v. Mendez

• Court: New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Writing for the Court: ROSENBLATT, J.
• Citation: People v. Mendez, 1 NY3d 15, 801 N.E.2d 382, 769 N.Y.S.2d 162 (N.Y. 2003)
• Decision Date: 23 October 2003
• Parties: THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Respondent, v. JACQUELINE MENDEZ, Appellant.

1 N.Y.3d 15

801 N.E.2d 382

769 N.Y.S.2d 162

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Respondent, v. JACQUELINE MENDEZ, Appellant.

Court of Appeals of the State of New York.

Argued September 17, 2003.

Decided October 23, 2003.

Gerald E. Bodell, Westport, Connecticut, for appellant.

Jeanine Pirro, District Attorney, White Plains (Lisa Colosi Florio, Richard Longworth Hecht and Richard E. Weill of counsel), for respondent.

Chief Judge KAYE and Judges G.B. SMITH, CIPARICK, GRAFFEO and READ concur.

OPINION OF THE COURT

ROSENBLATT, J.

After an argument, defendant killed her boyfriend with a kitchen knife, resulting in her conviction for manslaughter in the first degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree. We are confronted with the question of her competency to stand trial, given her long history of mental illness and hospitalizations.

Supreme Court ordered competency examinations in which defendant was examined by three psychiatrists, all of whom declared defendant competent to undergo trial. After a hearing, the court ordered the case to trial, determining that the People had established defendant's competence by a preponderance of the evidence. The Appellate Division, with one Justice dissenting, affirmed defendant's conviction, holding that Supreme Court correctly determined that defendant was fit to stand trial. A Justice of the Appellate Division granted leave, and we affirm.

I.

On the morning of the crime, defendant telephoned 911, saying "I think I killed my boyfriend." She gave her address, an apartment house in Yonkers. When the police arrived at the scene, defendant directed them to her boyfriend, Gustavo Cabrero, who was lying in bed with a puncture wound in his chest. Defendant said, "I killed him, didn't I?" The authorities took Cabrero to a nearby hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

The police arrested defendant and took her statement after administering Miranda warnings. Defendant said that she was angered by what she felt was Cabrero's infidelity and his bad attitude toward her son. She said that after she and Cabrero returned to bed, she arose, went to the kitchen and got a serrated knife with a six-inch blade. As Cabrero lay in bed, defendant asked him if he was tired. He said he was, and defendant stated, "Don't worry about it because you are going to rest for a long time." She then stabbed him in the chest.

The police transcribed defendant's statement and asked her to sign it, but she refused, saying it contained mistakes. Defendant then gave another statement which differed only in inconsequential detail as to the sequence of events that led to the stabbing. She refused to sign the second statement. "If you sign the papers," she said, "you can get yourself into trouble." Defendant then asked for a lawyer and the interview came to an end.

After a grand jury indicted defendant for murder, County Court ordered that she undergo a competency examination pursuant to Criminal Procedure Law § 730.30. The court and the parties received the results, by which defendant was found competent to stand trial. Several weeks later, when the case was called for conference, defendant made a written request for a change of counsel. When the court told her she needed a reason, she gave the court another writing explaining that her attorney had previously represented Gustavo Cabrero. The court at first denied the motion, but yielded after defendant persisted and claimed that her lawyer was interested only in getting her to plead guilty.

Based on the newly assigned attorney's request, the court ordered another competency hearing to be performed by three certified psychiatrists. They reported defendant competent to stand trial. After granting defendant's motion for a hearing (CPL 730.30 [2]), the court took testimony from Drs. Abraham Halpern, Norman Weiss and Alan Tuckman. All three testified that defendant was competent.

Dr. Halpern, a Board-certified psychiatrist, discussed the nature of dissociative personality disorder and observed that a person in defendant's condition could have lapses of judgment. He maintained, however, that defendant was much improved since he last examined her and that she seemed generally in contact and oriented. He stressed that she was aware of the plea negotiations and appropriately sought a new attorney when she perceived that she was being pressured to plead guilty. Dr. Halpern stated that when examining defendant he did not encounter multiple personalities in her and had no reason to believe that she was speaking as another person.

Dr. Tuckman, a forensic psychiatrist, testified that during his examination defendant revealed another personality. Defendant told him that there were three people inside her: an adult woman named Jackie, a seven-year-old child and a teenager named Karla. During the examination, defendant was able to present herself as Karla and then revert to Jackie. Dr. Tuckman concluded that defendant was suffering from dissociative personality disorder, and acknowledged that her dissociative episodes could take place during the trial. He added, however, that because defendant was aware of her other personalities, she had the ability to bring them out or "close them down." He rejected the theory that defendant was acting as an alternate personality when she stabbed her boyfriend, basing this opinion, in part, on her detailed and accurate statements to the police.

Finally, Dr. Weiss testified that defendant was able to respond properly to questions about the role of the judge, jury, defense counsel and prosecutor. He added that defendant could relate the nature of the charges facing her.

Based on the hearing testimony, the court found defendant fit to stand trial. At the nonjury trial, defendant advanced the affirmative defense of extreme emotional disturbance (Penal Law § 125.25 [1] [a]), which, if credited, reduces murder to manslaughter in the first degree. The defense called Dr. Alan Goldstein, a clinical psychologist, who stated that defendant was overwhelmed by her emotions and that the defense of extreme emotional disturbance was consistent with her mental condition at the time of the crime.

The court found defendant guilty of manslaughter in the first degree.

II.

The test for competence is set forth in CPL 730.10 (1): "Incapacitated person means a defendant who as a result of mental disease or defect lacks capacity to understand the proceedings against him or to assist his own defense." For purposes of due process, the United States Supreme Court has explained that the defendant must have "sufficient present ability to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding—and. . . a rational as well as factual understanding of the...