Rumbaugh v. Procunier
| Decision Date | 20 February 1985 |
| Docket Number | No. 83-1161,83-1161 |
| Citation | 753 F.2d 395 |
| Parties | Harvey and Rebecca RUMBAUGH, Individually and as Next Friends Acting on Behalf of Charles Rumbaugh, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Raymond K. PROCUNIER, Director, Texas Department of Corrections, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Will Gray, Carolyn Garcia, Houston, Tex., for Harvey and Rebecca rumbaugh.
Jim Mattox, Atty. Gen., Leslie A. Benitez, Asst. Atty. Gen., Duane E. Crowley, Austin, Tex., for defendant-appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
Before CLARK, Chief Judge, GOLDBERG and POLITZ, Circuit Judges.
This matter was returned to this panel for disposition in accordance with the special order we entered on remand, Rumbaugh v. McKaskle, 730 F.2d 291 (5th Cir.1984). We now consider the appeal of Harvey and Rebecca Rumbaugh from the decision of the district court, Rumbaugh v. Estelle, 558 F.Supp. 651 (N.D.Tex.1983), denying their request to present a next friend petition for writ of habeas corpus on behalf of their son, Charles Rumbaugh, a death-sentenced state prisoner. Charles Rumbaugh continues to refuse to seek collateral review of his conviction and sentence and continues to resist the efforts of his parents to secure that review. Harvey and Rebecca Rumbaugh maintain that their son lacks the mental capacity to waive or forgo his rights to collaterally attack his death sentence. After an exhaustive review of this record, including a review of the tortuous and bizarre course this litigation has followed, we conclude that the district court was correct in finding and concluding that Charles Rumbaugh possesses the requisite mental competence to decline to exercise his rights to secure collateral review of his conviction and sentence. Accordingly, we affirm.
Charles Rumbaugh was first convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death by a Texas state court on April 4, 1975. This conviction was reversed on appeal by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on the ground that inadmissible evidence had been admitted. Rumbaugh v. State, 589 S.W.2d 414 (Tex.Cr.App.1979). At the retrial Rumbaugh was again convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. The second conviction was affirmed on direct appeal, Rumbaugh v. State, 629 S.W.2d 747 (Tex.Crim.App.1982). Following affirmance of the second conviction Rumbaugh asked his court-appointed counsel to take no further steps to attack his conviction and sentence. When counsel ignored this request and moved for a rehearing, Rumbaugh wrote the Clerk of Court for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and requested that all motions filed by his counsel be withdrawn and that a mandate of affirmance issue forthwith. The court obliged and the mandate issued. Rumbaugh then wrote the state trial judge requesting that his execution be set without further delay. Rumbaugh's execution was set for July 23, 1982. Rumbaugh refused to authorize anyone to file a petition for writ of certiorari or to seek a stay of execution.
On July 16, 1982, Harvey and Rebecca Rumbaugh filed a next friend application for state habeas relief. Their petition was denied without hearing or written reasons on July 19, 1982. Later that same day, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied the senior Rumbaughs' motion for stay of execution and application for habeas relief. No reasons were assigned. On July 20, 1982, the district court for the Southern District of Texas granted Harvey and Rebecca Rumbaugh's motion for stay of execution and transferred the case to the Northern District of Texas, Amarillo Division.
The district court in Amarillo appointed counsel to represent Charles Rumbaugh and held a preliminary hearing to determine the procedures to be followed in this relatively unusual situation. Upon conclusion of that hearing the district court ordered Charles Rumbaugh transferred to the United States Medical Center, Springfield, Missouri, to be examined for the specific purpose of determining his mental competence to waive further review of his conviction and sentence.
Charles Rumbaugh was taken to Springfield and there examined by a team of psychiatrists and psychologists. The written reports of Drs. Logan and Reuterfors were presented to the court and the parties. At a hearing on February 4, 1983, a psychiatrist and two psychologists, called by the petitioners, none of whom had examined Charles Rumbaugh, testified as to their interpretations of the Springfield medical reports and gave their opinions on the mental state of Charles Rumbaugh. A doctor called by the state gave counter-testimony. At the conclusion of that conflicting testimony, the district court continued the hearing so that Dr. Logan could personally appear and explain his diagnosis and prognosis.
The hearing resumed on February 24, 1983, with Dr. Logan present. After Dr. Logan finished his testimony, Charles Rumbaugh voluntarily took the stand and advised the court of his position in the matter:
Well, I don't feel I'm depressed right now. I haven't been taking any medication for approximately thirty days. I was taking medication, an antipsychotic drug, and I haven't experienced any problem since I quit taking it.
And I think I understand my situation very well and I believe my decision is a logical and rational one.
And it doesn't really matter to me what this Court decides today because I've already made the decision to take matters into my own hands.
So it doesn't make any difference.
* * *
* * *
All I really wanted to say is that it doesn't matter to me; that I've already picked my own executioner and I'll just make them kill me. If they don't want to do it ... if they don't want to take me down there and execute me, I'll make them shoot me.
* * *
* * *
I think I'll make them shoot me right now.
Charles Rumbaugh then pulled a homemade knife-like weapon from his pocket and advanced on the deputy U.S. Marshal, shouting "Shoot!" The Marshal was forced to shoot Rumbaugh. After life-saving measures were taken, over Charles Rumbaugh's demands that no attempts be made to save his life, and he was removed by ambulance to the hospital, the hearing continued. Dr. Logan, who had witnessed the entire episode, was recalled to the stand. He testified that the bizarre occurrence did not shake his opinion but actually reinforced his conclusions that Rumbaugh was acting knowingly and intentionally with full knowledge and appreciation of the situation in which he found himself.
The district court sifted and weighed the evidence and concluded that Charles Rumbaugh was mentally competent to make the decision to forgo further judicial proceedings. This finding resulted in a preemption of his parents' next friend petition and it was dismissed.
Rumbaugh's parents appealed the finding of competence. After oral argument and while the matter was under submission to this court, Rumbaugh filed a pro se application for a writ of habeas corpus in state court, simultaneously requesting that this court be notified of his act. He argued that the state filing mooted the issues on appeal requiring a dismissal of the appeal. We responded with the special order earlier noted, 730 F.2d 291, remanding the application of Harvey and Rebecca Rumbaugh to the district court with instructions to monitor the progress of the state habeas petition. We instructed the district court to return the record to this court for disposition of the appeal in the event that any act or omission of Charles Rumbaugh prevented a decision on the merits of his state habeas application. Several months later, the state court dismissed the habeas petition in response to a motion by Charles Rumbaugh in which he stated that he had filed the state action to force dismissal of his parents' federal petition and, failing in that endeavor because of the provisions of the special order, he desired to withdraw his state petition. In accordance with our special order, the matter was returned in due course to this panel for disposition of the appeal by Harvey and Rebecca Rumbaugh.
If Charles Rumbaugh lacks the mental competence to waive his rights to further judicial review of his conviction and sentence, his parents have standing to bring an action for habeas relief as next friends. If he has that competence, his parents have no standing to bring the present action. Gilmore v. Utah, 429 U.S. 1012, 97 S.Ct. 436, 50 L.Ed.2d 632 (1976).
The Supreme Court announced the standard to be used in deciding whether a person is mentally competent to choose to forgo further appeals and collateral attack upon his conviction and sentence in Rees v. Peyton, 384 U.S. 312, 86 S.Ct. 1505, 16 L.Ed.2d 583 (1966). 1 The test is
whether he has capacity to appreciate his position and make a rational choice with respect to continuing or abandoning further litigation or on the other hand whether he is suffering from a mental disease, disorder, or defect which may substantially affect his capacity in the premises.
384 U.S. at 314, 86 S.Ct. at 1506. This test requires the answer to three questions:
(1) Is the person suffering from a mental disease or defect?
(2) If the person is suffering from a mental disease or defect, does that disease or defect prevent him from understanding his legal position and the options available to him?
(3) If the person is suffering from a mental disease or defect which does not prevent him from understanding his legal position and the options available to him, does that disease or defect, nevertheless, prevent him from making a rational choice among his options?
If the answer to the first question is no, the court need go no further, the person is competent. If both the first and second questions are answered in the affirmative, the person is incompetent and the third question need not be addressed. If...
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