State v. Hahn

• Decision Date: 09 October 1986
• Docket Number: No. 52314-2,52314-2
• Citation: 106 Wn.2d 885,726 P.2d 25
• Court: Washington Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE of Washington, Petitioner, v. Harlan Henry HAHN, Respondent.

Page 885

106 Wn.2d 885

726 P.2d 25

STATE of Washington, Petitioner, v. Harlan Henry HAHN, Respondent.

No. 52314-2.

Supreme Court of Washington En Banc.

Oct. 9, 1986.

Norm Maleng, King County Prosecutor, Jennifer Eychaner, Deputy County Prosecutor, Seattle, for petitioner.

Washington Appellate Defender Raymond Thoenig, Seattle, for respondent.

DURHAM, Justice.

Harlan Henry Hahn was convicted of second degree murder after a trial in which he waived a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, waived his right to counsel, and represented himself. Hahn had been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic after his arrest, but was found competent to stand trial. Hahn appealed his conviction. The Court of Appeals reversed and remanded for a new trial, 41 Wash.App. 876, 707 P.2d 699, stating that the standards for competency to stand trial and for waiver of an insanity plea were met, but that the standard for waiver of counsel was not. We reverse the Court of Appeals, hold that Hahn validly waived his right to counsel, and affirm Hahn's conviction.

Harlan Henry Hahn went to Jerry's Tavern in Kent on the evening of February 13, 1983. He stayed approximately 3 to 3 1/2 hours and drank two beers. He then left the tavern. Sometime later, Hahn returned and stated that he had just killed someone. The bartender asked him to leave the tavern. Hahn replied that he was with the FBI.

While Hahn was away from the tavern, he beat with a briefcase and kicked to death an 84-year-old man, Elmer C. Commet, with whom he had formerly lived. When Hahn was arrested, he stated, "I killed the son-of-a-bitch for what he said about my mother." Hahn subsequently made a statement to police in which he admitted his actions but claimed that he had acted in self-defense.

Hahn was charged with intentional second degree murder and was committed to Western State Hospital for a psychiatric examination. A letter of March 10, 1983 from clinical psychologist Brett C. Trowbridge stated that Hahn was incompetent to stand trial. Hahn believed that he was an agent of the CIA or some other governmental security agency too secret to reveal, and that he was working on a clandestine governmental project. Hahn claimed to have been an undercover agent for many years, at one time for Rockwell International and at another time investigating voting fraud in President Reagan's 1980 election. Dr. Trowbridge diagnosed Hahn as schizophrenic, chronic paranoid type.

On May 19, 1983, an amended information was filed in King County Superior Court charging, in the alternative, felony murder resulting from an assault, as well as intentional murder. A competency hearing was held on that day before Judge Lee Kraft. Judge Kraft found Hahn competent to stand trial after reviewing a second letter from Dr. Trowbridge and staff psychiatrist Donald F. Allison, dated April 26, 1983. Doctors Trowbridge and Allison stated that, although Hahn continued to be delusional about the CIA, the Mafia, the Russians, the Rockwell Company, and the Boeing Company, he was then competent to stand trial. They concluded:

Mr. Hahn has regained competency to stand trial, although he was incompetent upon admission. Although Mr. Hahn continues to be delusional and paranoid in many areas of his thinking, he fully understands the nature of the proceedings against him and is able to assist his attorney in preparing a defense.... As far as we have been able to determine, Mr. Hahn has not yet incorporated his attorney into his delusional thinking.

Hahn's defense counsel, Roy Howson, agreed that Hahn was competent. The doctors' diagnosis of Hahn continued to be schizophrenia, chronic paranoid type. They advised that no psychotropic medication had been prescribedbecause they did not feel such treatment would cause any improvement in Hahn's condition.

At a later hearing on May 31, 1983 before Judge George T. Mattson, the State moved to interpose an insanity plea over Hahn's objection. Hahn moved to represent himself at trial. Judge Mattson entered the insanity plea, based on the reports contained in the above two letters. After examining Hahn, the court also allowed him to waive his right to counsel. Defense counsel opposed Hahn's wish to represent himself. The court appointed Howson as Hahn's legal advisor, or backup counsel.

At a hearing on June 14, 1983 before Judge Mattson, the State moved the court to reconsider the entry of the insanity plea due to this court's intervening decision in State v. Jones, 99 Wash.2d 735, 664 P.2d 1216 (1983). As a result, the trial court withdrew the insanity plea. The court again examined Hahn at length regarding his decision to waive an insanity plea and to waive counsel.

Trial was held June 20-23, 1983 before Judge Horton Smith. Hahn represented himself, with Howson acting as his legal advisor. ¹ Hahn asserted that the victim lunged at him and that he acted in self-defense. The jury found him guilty of second degree murder. Hahn then was sentenced to life in prison.

The Court of Appeals reversed Hahn's conviction and remanded the case for a new trial. It held that the finding of Hahn's competency to stand trial was supported by the record, State v. Hahn, 41 Wash.App. 876, 880, 707 P.2d 699 (1985), and that Hahn made a knowing and intelligent waiver of the insanity plea. Hahn, at 881, 707 P.2d 699. The court reversed, however, on the basis that the record did not affirmatively establish that Hahn made a knowing and intelligent waiver of counsel. Hahn, at 884, 707 P.2d 699.

WAIVER OF COUNSEL

The sixth and fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution guarantee that a criminal defendant must be afforded the right to the assistance of counsel. Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806, 807, 95 S.Ct. 2525, 2527, 45 L.Ed.2d 562 (1975). In Faretta, the United States Supreme Court held that the sixth amendment to the United States Constitution, applicable to the states by the Fourteenth Amendment, guarantees that a defendant in a criminal trial also has a constitutional right to waive the assistance of counsel and represent himself. The case before this court presents the difficult question of the standard for waiver of that right by a criminal defendant who is psychotic yet competent to stand trial. Hahn, a paranoid schizophrenic who was competent to stand trial, was granted his request to represent himself. We are asked to decide if Hahn's waiver of his right to counsel was valid.

The Faretta court, at 835, 95 S.Ct. at 2541, held that a defendant's waiver of the assistance of counsel must be made "knowingly and intelligently". The Court also stated:

Although a defendant need not himself have the skill and experience of a lawyer in order competently and intelligently to choose self-representation, he should be made aware of the dangers and disadvantages of self-representation, so that the record will establish that "he knows what he is doing and his choice is made with eyes open." Adams v. United States ex rel. McCann, 317 U.S. , at 279, [87 L.Ed. 268, 63 S.Ct. 236, 143 A.L.R. 435 (1942) ].

Faretta, at 835, 95 S.Ct. at 2541.

In a case decided before Faretta, State v. Kolocotronis, 73 Wash.2d 92, 436 P.2d 774 (1968), this court considered the appeal of a defendant who had a history of mental illness, but was found competent to stand trial and then sane at the time of trial. The trial court in Kolocotronis refused to allow the defendant to represent himself and appointed counsel for him. The court did, however, permit the defendant to present his own defense at trial. Additionally, his attorney introduced evidence of defendant's insanity, incontravention of defendant's wishes. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty and a special verdict of insanity at the time the crimes were committed. We affirmed the trial court, holding that the record supported its determination that the defendant lacked the mental capacity to act as his own counsel. We also upheld the trial court's refusal to allow the defendant to withdraw his insanity plea. ²

There are no decisions of this court since State v. Kolocotronis, supra, on the waiver of counsel by psychotic defendants. ³ Nor have any cases been presented to us where the trial court granted a psychotic defendant's request to waive counsel, as opposed to denying the request in Kolocotronis.

Closest to such a case is State v. Jones, 99 Wash.2d 735, 664 P.2d 1216 (1983), where the trial court entered an insanity plea over the objection of a defendant who was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. In a 5-4 opinion, this court reversed the trial court and held that "as long as the defendant is competent to stand trial, a court may rarely, if ever, take such action but ... it does have a duty to assure the defendant's waiver of an NGI [not guilty by reason of insanity] plea is intelligent and voluntary." Jones, at 737, 664 P.2d 1216.

The issue in Jones was waiver of an insanity plea rather than waiver of counsel, but the case is notable because it explicitly addresses waiver of an insanity plea in terms of the Faretta standards for waiver of counsel:

A defendant exercising his right of self-representation, and thus by implication a defendant exercising his right to control his own defense, must " 'knowingly and intelligently' " relinquish the benefits he forgoes and "should be made aware of the dangers and disadvantages" of his decision. Faretta, [422 U.S.] at 835 [95 S.Ct. at 2541]. ... In addition, a defendant must be competent to make these intelligent and voluntary decisions.

Jones, at 741, 664 P.2d 1216.

In establishing the standard for waiver of an insanity plea, this court held that "the only permissible inquiries when a defendant seeks to waive his insanity defense are whether he is competent to stand trial and whether his decision is intelligent and voluntary." Jones, 99 Wash.2d at 746, 664 P.2d 1216. The trial judge must " 'conduct an inquiry designed to assure that the defendant has been fully informed of...