State v. Bias

• Decision Date: 25 March 1983
• Docket Number: No. 15636,15636
• Citation: 171 W.Va. 687,301 S.E.2d 776
• Court: West Virginia Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE of West Virginia v. Henry BIAS.

Page 776

301 S.E.2d 776

171 W.Va. 687

STATE of West Virginia v. Henry BIAS.

No. 15636.

Supreme Court of Appeals of

West Virginia.

March 25, 1983.

Syllabus by the Court

1. "In the determination of a claim that an accused was prejudiced by ineffective assistance of counsel violative of Article III, Section 14 of the West Virginia Constitution and the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, courts should measure and compare the questioned counsel's performance by whether he exhibited the normal and customary degree of skill possessed by attorneys who are reasonably knowledgeable of criminal law...." Syllabus Point 19, State v. Thomas, 157 W.Va. 640, 203 S.E.2d 445 (1974).

2. "Where a counsel's performance, attacked as ineffective, arises from occurrences involving strategy, tactics and arguable courses of action, his conduct will be deemed effectively assistive of his client's interests, unless no reasonably qualified defense attorney would have so acted in the defense of an accused." Syllabus Point 21, State v. Thomas, 157 W.Va. 640, 203 S.E.2d 445 (1974).

3. "There exists in the trial of an accused a presumption of sanity. However, should the accused offer evidence that he was insane, the presumption of sanity disappears and the burden is on the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was sane at the time of the offense." Syllabus Point 2, State v. Daggett, 167 W.Va. 411, 280 S.E.2d 545 (1981).

4. "In any case where the defendant relies upon the defense of insanity, the defendant is entitled to any instruction which advises the jury about the further disposition of the defendant in the event of a finding of not guilty by reason of insanity which correctly states the law ...." Syllabus Point 4, State v. Jackson, 171 W.Va. 329, 298 S.E.2d 866 (1982).

5. When fourteen physicians, psychiatrists, and psychologists were unanimous in their opinions that a defendant was mentally ill, and an overwhelming majority of the experts found him to be psychotic; and defense counsel introduced the testimony of only two psychologists and one physician and none of the voluminous medical records from institutions in which the defendant had been treated; and ignored other evidence of defendant's psychotic condition at the time he committed an offense, counsel was ineffective.

S. Clark Woodroe & Fredrick S. Wilkerson, Asst. Attys. Gen., Charleston, for appellee.

Bradley J. Pyles, Crandall, Pyles & Crandall, Logan, for appellant.

HARSHBARGER, Justice:

Bias' two-day 1980 Logan County jury trial resulted in a conviction for first degree murder without recommendation of mercy. His appeal claims ineffective assistance of counsel and erroneous instructions about the burden of proof for insanity defenses.

Lennie Sawyers, defendant's mother, was brutally murdered on October 23, 1968 in her home. She had multiple stab wounds and had been beaten with two skillets. Bias, a Cleveland resident, was visiting her, and they were alone in the house after 7:00 a.m., but when a neighbor discovered Ms. Sawyers' mutilated body at about 10:30 a.m. that day, Bias was nowhere to be found. At 9:30 that evening he walked into the local YMCA. The Logan state police arrested him there, brought him to headquarters, questioned him, and he gave a written statement indicating that he and his mother quarrelled, and that then he blacked out for hours.

Counsel was appointed the next day, and Bias was indicted on January 13, 1969. His attorney requested a psychological examination and the two physicians who saw him found him psychotic, and recommended commitment. The court committed him to Weston State Hospital on March 25, 1969. In April, 1969 a staff doctor at Weston found him to be delusional and suffering from chronic undifferentiated schizophrenia. A clinical psychologist also found him to be delusional and chronically psychotic. The staff met about him in May, 1969 and found him psychotic with chronic undifferentiated schizophrenia. By September he was improved, and his psychosis was in remission. He was returned to Logan County's jail.

In January, 1970, the jailer asked the court to recheck defendant's mental condition. He had attempted suicide and was extremely disruptive. The court had him tested, and two doctors and another clinical psychologist recommended commitment. On March 13, 1970, the court found him incompetent, and committed him to Huntington State Hospital. He escaped four times before February 14, 1972, thrice returning to the hospital voluntarily. On February 14, 1972, he left again and did not return until he was extradited from Indiana in April, 1973.

A new attorney was appointed for him in September, 1973, another mental evaluation was ordered, and he was again found incompetent and recommitted to Huntington State Hospital on February 5, 1974. He escaped on March 12 before he was evaluated. Five and a half years later, in November, 1979, he walked into the Logan County Circuit Clerk's office and asked for money he believed the clerk was holding for him. The clerk recognized his name and alerted the police, who arrested him. Another attorney was appointed, another psychiatric examination was requested, and he was committed to Weston State Hospital for a twenty-day evaluation. A physician and psychiatrist found him competent to stand trial, and after a competency hearing in March, 1980, he was tried on April 30 and May 1, 1980.

A further investigation into his history of mental illness revealed that in December, 1965, while in jail on a peace bond, he exhibited bizarre behavior. The jailer asked the court to have him evaluated. The 1965 evaluation by two psychiatrists at Huntington State Hospital found him mentally unbalanced, nervous, and in need of treatment. The next week he was evaluated by a staff psychologist who noted he suffered strong delusions, had an I.Q. of 72, and was psychotic. He walked out of the hospital on December 21, 1965.

We are very cautious about finding that counsel has been ineffective. State v. Baker, 169 W.Va. 357, 287 S.E.2d 497, 502 (1982).

19. In the determination of a claim that an accused was prejudiced by ineffective assistance of counsel violative of Article III, Section 14 of the West Virginia Constitution and the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, courts should measure and compare the questioned counsel's performance by whether he exhibited the normal and customary degree of skill possessed by attorneys who are reasonably knowledgeable of criminal law

....

21. Where a counsel's performance, attacked as ineffective, arises from occurrences involving strategy, tactics and arguable courses of action, his conduct will be deemed effectively assistive of his client's interests, unless no reasonably qualified defense attorney would have so acted in the defense of an accused. Syllabus Points 19 and 21, State v. Thomas, 157 W.Va. 640, 203 S.E.2d 445 (1974).

See also State v. Riser, 170 W.Va. 473, 294 S.E.2d 461 (1982).

When this case was tried in 1980, our law on criminal trials for defendants whose pretrial psychiatric examinations revealed they were not criminally responsible for their acts was stated in State ex rel. Walton v. Casey, 163 W.Va. 208, 258 S.E.2d 114 (1979), Syllabus Points 1 and 2: ¹

1. A criminal trial is unwarranted when pre-trial psychiatric examinations clearly reveal by a preponderance of the evidence, that the accused at the time the crime was committed, was not criminally responsible for his acts.

2. W.Va.Code, 27-6A-2(c) requires a court to dismiss criminal charges against a defendant if he is found incompetent to stand trial after six months' court-ordered hospitalization plus an additional three months if requested by the hospital staff. The dismissal may be stayed ten days to allow civil commitment proceedings to be instituted pursuant to Code, 27-5-1.

Bias' pretrial psychiatric examinations were at least as strong as Walton's. Clearly a preponderance of the evidence indicated lack of criminal responsibility.

In 1965 when Bias was examined by court order ² at the jailer's request, Dr. Starcher and Dr. Rowan found that he was mentally ill and a danger to himself and to others, requiring immediate hospitalization. Ms. O.P. Mortison, a clinical psychologist who evaluated him at that time, noted that Bias had very strong delusions, including one that John F. Kennedy bought and paid $25,000 for some property and deeded it to him and his daughter, and that Kennedy also put $30,000 in a trust fund for them. She concluded:

Henry Bias is mildly mentally deficient and probably always has been. He also is psychotic. His condition is somewhat like a paranoid state, but it may be a chronic undifferentiated schizophrenia with some paranoid and depressed features.

In March, 1969, Dr. Kessel reported:

It is my opinion that this man is mentally incapaciated [sic]. I feel he has a deep seeded [sic] mental and emotional problem and that he low-edd [sic] mental function and has a psychopathic personality. I feel that it would be wise for this man to be hospitalized in a maximum security mental hospital where psychometric evaluation and psychiatric observation and treatment can be obtained before a final opinion be rendered.

Dr. Aviles, a staff physician at Weston State Hospital, tentatively diagnosed Bias on April 29, 1969 as "Schizophrenia, Chronic Undifferentiated Type. (Rule out Schizophrenia, Paranoid Type)" with a "Guarded to poor" prognosis.

In May, 1969, Arnold Nelson of Psychological Services at Weston discussed Bias' delusions, and concluded:

The lack of affect coupled with paranoid projections, is strongly indicative of a psychotic level of adjustment, rather than neurotic defensive procedures.

Mr. Bias needs psychiatric care to the fullest extent. He is marginally in contact with reality at the moment and should therefore be open to the therapeutic milieu. His only steady occupation has been as a coal...