State v. Elam

• Decision Date: 21 May 2002
• Docket Number: No. WD 59349.,WD 59349.
• Citation: 89 S.W.3d 517
• Parties: STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Gerald M. ELAM, Appellant.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

89 S.W.3d 517

STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Gerald M. ELAM, Appellant.

No. WD 59349.

Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District.

May 21, 2002.

Motion for Rehearing and/or Transfer to Supreme Court Denied July 2, 2002. Application for Transfer Sustained August 27, 2002.

Case Transferred November 26, 2002.

Court of Appeals Opinion Readopted December 10, 2002.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Kent Denzel, Columbia, for Appellant.

John M. Morris, III, Karen L. Kramer, Jefferson City, for Respondent.

Before BRECKENRIDGE, P.J., NEWTON and HARDWICK, JJ.

LISA WHITE HARDWICK, Judge.

Gerald Elam was convicted by jury of first-degree murder, armed criminal action, and second-degree arson. On appeal, he claims the trial court erred in finding him competent to stand trial and in failing to declare a mistrial sua sponte based on the State's improper closing arguments. We affirm the trial court's judgment.

Factual and Procedural History

We review the facts in a light most favorable to the jury's verdict. Sometime between late evening June 2, 1997, and the early morning hours of June 3, 1997, Appellant Gerald Elam (Elam) stabbed and killed his eighty-seven year old grandfather, Minis Elam, in the grandfather's home. Elam then set a fire and left his grandfather's body in the burning home. Neighborhood residents, as well as a trucker, saw Elam leaving the scene.

Police later questioned Elam about his grandfather's death and the fire. Elam initially offered different theories about the death but eventually confessed to stabbing his grandfather, alleging self-defense. He also admitted starting the fire in order to cover up evidence of his grandfather's murder. Elam told investigators he believed his grandfather was the devil.

Elam was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, armed criminal action, and second-degree arson. Based on his statements during interrogations, Elam was sent to Fulton State Hospital for a preliminary psychiatric evaluation. On September 25, 1997, the court ordered a full pretrial evaluation of Elam's mental competency to stand trial.

Dr. John Zimmerschied, a psychiatrist and certified forensics examiner, evaluated and diagnosed Elam with "schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type." Dr. Zimmerschied concluded that as a result of this mental disease, Elam was unable to understand the legal proceedings against him and/or assist in his own defense. The court thereupon found Elam incompetent for trial on the criminal charges and committed him to the Department of Mental Health (DMH) on September 9, 1998.

On May 5, 1999, the State filed a motion to proceed with the criminal charges against Elam. The motion was premised upon an April 1999 evaluation and report by two DMH psychologists, who determined that Elam's mental condition had improved. The psychologists concluded Elam was competent to proceed to trial and should "remain on his current medication regime." Sometime thereafter, the court scheduled a trial for October 2, 2000, on Elam's criminal charges.

On September 13, 2000, Elam filed a motion to stay proceedings based on an independent competency evaluation by Dr. Rosalyn Inniss, a psychiatrist he retained. Dr. Inniss concurred with Dr. Zimmerschied's diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type, and further found Elam suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. At a hearing on the motion to stay, Dr. Inniss testified that Elam was "limited in his ability to fully understand the proceedings" and "would be most challenged in ... being able to give reasonable assistance to counsel in the process of his own defense."

The State countered Dr. Inniss' testimony with the April 1999 DMH psychologists' report, which concluded Elam understood the charges against him and was sufficiently competent to assist in his defense. The State also presented testimony from Police Sergeant Mike Platte, who witnessed Elam's conduct at a prior suppression hearing. Sgt. Platte testified that Elam smiled during Dr. Zimmerschied's testimony about his incompetence and then glared when the judge denied the motion to suppress. The State argued that Elam's responses indicated he understood the nature of the proceedings.

Following the hearing, the court denied the motion to stay and found Elam competent to proceed to trial. The court ruled:

The defendant is presumed to have the mental capacity and fitness to proceed. The defendant has not proven by a preponderance, of the evidence that he does not have the mental fitness to proceed. The exhibits admitted as well as the testimony together with the Court's observations of the defendant and the record in this cause belies any allegation that the defendant is unable to assist in his defense. He has been articulate and aware of his circumstances and has so far become involved beyond the usual in the defense of [this] case. Court finds there is nothing in the record, in the statements of the defendant, in his correspondence to the Court, that would indicate any mental disease or defect or inability to proceed.

The cause went to jury trial on October 2, 2000. Elam was convicted on all charges and consecutively sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for first-degree murder, life imprisonment for armed criminal action, and seven years imprisonment for second-degree arson. He appeals.

Competency Determination

In his first point, Elam claims the trial court erred in finding him competent to stand trial. He argues the ruling was not supported by substantial evidence because he suffered from schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type, and paranoid schizophrenia, which rendered him unable assist in his own defense and rationally understand the legal proceedings.

The trial court's ruling on the competency of a defendant is a factual determination which must be upheld unless there is no substantial evidence to support it. State v. Frezzell, 958 S.W.2d 101, 104 (Mo.App. W.D.1998). The reviewing court does not weigh the evidence but accepts as true all the evidence and reasonable inferences that tend to support the trial court's findings. Id. We must determine "whether a reasonable judge, in the same situation as the trial court, should have experienced doubt about the accused's competency to stand trial." State v. Tokar, 918 S.W.2d 753, 762-63 (Mo. banc 1996).

An accused is competent to stand trial if he has "sufficient present ability to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding" and has "a rational as well as factual understanding of the proceedings against him." State v. Wise, 879 S.W.2d 494, 507 (Mo.banc 1994), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 1093, 115 S.Ct. 757, 130 L.Ed.2d 656 (1995). The burden is on the accused to prove incompetence. State v. Caudill, 789 S.W.2d 213, 215 (Mo.App. 1990). The actual presence of some degree of mental illness or need for treatment does not necessarily indicate legal incompetence for purposes of trial. Frezzell, 958 S.W.2d at 104. Thus, a defendant may be diagnosed with a mental disease and still be declared competent to stand trial. Id. at 104-105.

Missouri's statutory procedure to determine competence to stand trial is set forth in § 552.020 RSMo, which states: "No person who as a result of mental disease or defect lacks capacity to understand the proceedings against him or to assist in his own defense shall be tried, convicted or sentenced for the commission of an offense so long as the incapacity endures." The United States Supreme Court has recognized that § 552.020 is constitutionally adequate to protect a defendant's right not to be tried while legally incompetent. Drope v. Missouri, 420 U.S. 162, 173, 95 S.Ct. 896, 43 L.Ed.2d 103 (1975).

There is substantial evidence in the record to support the trial court's finding that Elam was competent to proceed to trial. At the hearing on the motion to stay proceedings, the State presented a report from two psychologists, Dr. Hossein Mojdehi and Dr. Michael Stacey, who evaluated Elam during his DMH commitment. The psychologists interviewed Elam over a three-week period for a total of three-and-a-half hours and reviewed his medical records, which included police reports of his charged criminal offenses.

Based on their evaluation, Drs. Mojdehi and Stacey concluded that Elam suffered from a schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type, but was nonetheless able to understand, appreciate the significance of, and participate in the criminal legal proceedings. Their report, as submitted in evidence, stated:

Mr. Elam verbalized adequate understanding of the criminal charges against him and an appreciation of the legal process. He correctly named all four charges against him, identified each charge by its class and mentioned the range of penalty if convicted of any of those. He specifically verbalized the gravity of the sentence. He also indicated a full understanding of the plea process including the option of an NGRI defense. Although he talked of the prospect of "acquittal" in case he got a "competent" jury to "understand" that he acted in "self-defense," when he was specifically asked what he would do if his legal counsel recommended an NGRI plea, Mr. Elam stated that he would accept it....

In brief, it appears that Mr. Elam's mental disease at the present time does not have a significant bearing on his appreciation of his legal status or his ability to work out a defense strategy. It is, therefore, the opinion of the undersigned with a reasonable degree of psychological certainty that he presently possesses the capacity to understand the proceedings against him and to assist in his own defense.

On appeal, Elam contends the April 1999 report from the DMH psychologists was more than a year old at the time of the September 2000 hearing on his motion to stay proceedings, and that the report's competency finding was based on the assumption Elam would continue his medication. Dr. Inniss testified that Elam had not continued his medication since being...