State v. Carter
| Decision Date | 08 February 2012 |
| Docket Number | 2012 Opinion No. 8,Docket No. 38038 |
| Parties | STATE OF IDAHO, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. TYLER RAY CARTER, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | Idaho Court of Appeals |
Stephen W. Kenyon, Clerk
Appeal from the District Court of the Fourth Judicial District, State of Idaho, Ada County. Hon. Thomas F. Neville, District Judge.
Sentence for aggravated assault on a corrections officer, vacated and case remanded.
Sara B. Thomas, State Appellate Public Defender; Jordan E. Taylor, Deputy Appellate Public Defender, Boise, for appellant. Jordan E. Taylor argued.
Hon. Lawrence G. Wasden, Attorney General; Kenneth K. Jorgensen, Deputy Attorney General, Boise, for respondent. Kenneth K. Jorgensen argued.
Tyler Ray Carter appeals from his conviction for aggravated assault on a correction facility officer, asserting two claims of error that relate to his sentencing proceedings. He contends that two psychological evaluations, conducted to determine his mental competence to aid in his defense, were erroneously included in the presentence investigation report and that the district court should have sua sponte ordered a psychological evaluation for use at sentencing.
On May 12, 2009, while Carter was incarcerated at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution in the mental health tier, he caused a disturbance in the shower by breaking a chair and spitting on the window. A response team was called, and Carter was placed in arm and leg restraints. Officer Johnson was among several officers who participated in restraining Carter andescorting him back to his cell. As the group was walking, Carter suddenly bent down or leaned forward, and then sprung upward and backward, slamming his head into the right side of Officer Johnson's head. Officer Johnson suffered permanent injuries as a result of the impact.
Carter was charged with aggravated battery on a correctional officer, Idaho Code § 18-915(2), with a persistent violator sentence enhancement, I.C. § 19-2514. At the request of defense counsel, the court ordered a competency evaluation pursuant to Idaho Code § 18-211. Dr. Chad Sombke evaluated Carter and prepared a report concluding that Carter was experiencing significant psychiatric symptoms but was competent to assist in his defense.
Carter originally pleaded not guilty, but on the morning of trial agreed to plead guilty in exchange for the State's agreement to dismiss the persistent violator enhancement. The district court accepted the plea and ordered a presentence investigation report (PSI). Defense counsel then requested that Carter's "psychiatric records" be attached to the PSI as follows:
The judge thereupon explained to Carter that a presentence investigator would come to speak with him, and that her report would be treated seriously by the court. The judge then asked for permission from Carter to obtain his psychiatric records:
The PSI ultimately included a competency evaluation that was prepared in 2005 for a different case, in which Carter was diagnosed with schizophrenia. The PSI may also have included the 2010 competency evaluation prepared in this case, although that is not clear from the record on appeal.1 So far as indicated in the record, the PSI did not include any of Carter's psychiatric records generated at IDOC. At no point did Carter request augmentation of the PSI with IDOC records or request a psychological evaluation for sentencing pursuant to Idaho Code § 19-2522. At the sentencing hearing, both parties made arguments concerning Carter's mental health. In its comments at sentencing, the district court ultimately concluded that the head-butting incident was unrelated to Carter's schizophrenia and was instead just his choice to hurt someone. Carter was sentenced to a unified fifteen-year term of imprisonment, with five years determinate.
On appeal, Carter contends that the inclusion in his PSI of psychological evaluations that were conducted solely for the purpose of determining his competence to stand trial or assist with his defense violated Idaho Code § 18-215 and the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. He also asserts that the district court committed error when it failed to sua sponte order a psychological evaluation for use at sentencing pursuant to Idaho Code § 19-2522. He therefore seeks resentencing.
Carter did not object to the attachment of competency evaluations to the PSI for the court's consideration in sentencing, but he asserts that their inclusion constitutes fundamental error reviewable on appeal despite the lack of objection below.
An Idaho appellate court generally will not consider an assertion of error on appeal unless the issue was preserved in the trial court proceedings. State v. Perry, 150 Idaho 209, 224, 245 P.3d 961, 976 (2010); State v. Johnson, 126 Idaho 892, 896, 894 P.2d 125, 129 (1995). This rule encourages parties to timely raise objections in order to give the trial court an opportunity to consider and resolve or avoid the mistake. Puckett v. United States, 556 U.S. 129, 134 (2009). Requiring a contemporaneous objection prevents the litigant from sandbagging the court, i.e., "remaining silent about his objection and belatedly raising the error only if the case does not conclude in his favor." Id. Nevertheless, a claimed trial error in a criminal case that was not followed by a contemporaneous objection may be reviewed on appeal if it amounts to fundamental error. To establish reversible fundamental error:
(1) the defendant must demonstrate that one or more of the defendant's unwaived constitutional rights were violated; (2) the error must be clear or obvious, without the need for any additional information not contained in the appellate record, including information as to whether the failure to object was a tactical decision; and (3) the defendant must demonstrate that the error affected the defendant's substantial rights, meaning (in most instances) that it must have affected the outcome of the trial proceedings.
Perry, 150 Idaho at 226, 245 P.3d at 978 (footnote omitted).
Carter's first assertion of fundamental error is that the use of his competency evaluations at sentencing violated Idaho Code § 18-215.2 This argument does not present an issue offundamental error because it asserts no infringement of a constitutional right. Where an appellant asserts a violation of a rule or statute rather than a constitutional error, the fundamental error doctrine may not be invoked. Perry, 150 Idaho at 228, 245 P.3d at 980; State v. Kelly, 106 Idaho 268, 277, 678 P.2d 60, 69 (Ct. App. 1984). Therefore, we will not address Carter's contention that Idaho Code § 18-215 was violated.
Carter also asserts that the use of his competency evaluations at sentencing violated the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees that "No person . . . shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself." This safeguard against compelled self-incrimination applies to both the guilt and penalty phases of a trial. Mitchell v. United States, 562 U.S. 314, 325-27 (1999); Estelle v. Smith, 451 U.S. 454, 462-63 (1981); Estrada v. State, 143 Idaho 558, 563-64, 149 P.3d 833, 838-39 (2006); State v. Lankford, 116 Idaho 860, 871-72, 781 P.2d 197, 208-09 (1989). A competency evaluation of one charged with a crime ordinarily does not implicate the Fifth Amendment because any disclosures made by the defendant are not used against him but are used only for the neutral, limited purpose of determining whether he is competent to stand trial. See Estelle, 451 U.S. at 465. Fifth Amendment rights come into play, however, if disclosures made during a competency evaluation, or medical conclusions derived from such disclosures, are later used against the defendant at either the guilt or penalty phase of the proceedings. Id. See also Estrada, 143 Idaho at 564, 149 P.3d at 839 (). Consequently, statements made by an accused during a competency evaluation and derivative psychiatric opinions generally may not be admitted against the individual for sentencing purposes unless the defendant was advised of the right against self-incrimination and waived those rights. Estelle, 451 U.S. at 469; State v. Jockumsen, 148 Idaho 817, 820, 229 P.3d 1179, 1182 (Ct. App. 2010).
We conclude that no Fifth Amendment violation occurred in Carter's case because the record establishes that the evaluations were not placed in evidence through any compulsion against Carter. It was the defense, not the State, the court, or the presentence investigator, who caused the competency evaluations to be placed before the court for sentencing purposes.Defense counsel asked the district court to order inclusion in the PSI of Carter's psychiatric records "at IDOC" and "under the supervision of Dr. Sombke."...
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