State v. Hanson

• Citation: 271 P.3d 712,152 Idaho 314
• Decision Date: 06 January 2012
• Docket Number: No. 38512.,38512.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Idaho
• Parties: STATE Of Idaho, Plaintiff–Respondent, v. Matthew W. HANSON, Defendant–Appellant.

152 Idaho 314

271 P.3d 712

STATE Of Idaho, Plaintiff–Respondent,

v.Matthew W. HANSON, Defendant–Appellant.

No. 38512.

Supreme Court of Idaho, Boise, December 2011 Term.

Jan. 6, 2012.

Molly J. Huskey, State Appellate Public Defender, Boise, for appellant. Diane Walker argued.

Hon. Lawrence G. Wasden, Attorney General, Boise, for respondent. Jessica Lorello argued.

HORTON, Justice.

Matthew W. Hanson was convicted of aggravated assault. At the sentencing phase, he exercised his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and declined to participate in the preparation of the presentence investigation (PSI) report. Hanson later moved the court to order a presentence psychological evaluation. The district court ruled that unless Hanson agreed to participate in the PSI, his motion would be denied on the ground that a defendant may not selectively invoke his Fifth Amendment privilege with respect to different aspects of a single subject. Hanson again declined to participate in the PSI, and the court denied his motion. Hanson's attorney subsequently requested a competency evaluation, which was also denied. Hanson was sentenced to five years, with three years fixed. Hanson moved for reconsideration of his sentence, which motion the district court denied. Hanson appeals the district court's denial of his requests for a psychological evaluation and for a competency evaluation. We affirm in part, vacate the judgment of the district court, and remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Hanson was convicted of aggravated assault, and the district court imposed a five-year sentence with three years fixed. Hanson's appeal is before this Court on a petition for review after the Court of Appeals vacated the judgment and remanded Hanson's case for resentencing. The Court of Appeals set forth the facts:

During a conversation at a bar, Hanson pulled two hunting knives on a man and threatened to kill him. Hanson was arrested and charged with aggravated assault. I.C. §§ 18–901 and 18–905(b). The Elmore County Jail log reveals that, while Hanson was incarcerated awaiting trial, he exhibited erratic and volatile behavior. On each of ten days, from July 19–29, 2007, Hanson refused to eat at least one and oftentimes all of his meals. Hanson stated that he was on a hunger strike because the people serving him food had bad attitudes. On July 19, jail staff installed a camera in Hanson's cell so they could observe him better.

On July 21, jail staff requested Hanson undergo a mental evaluation, but Hanson refused to participate. On July 23, after rising from bed, Hanson was seen swaying in his cell. He fell twice, presumably from lack of food. On July 24, Hanson was transported to the hospital and thereafter began taking an unspecified medication.

On August 10, Hanson requested that all his food be passed to him through the bean slot because he required that his door remain closed at all times. When jail staff refused to comply with his request, Hanson threw his tray against his cell door spraying food around his cell and into the hallway beyond. For twelve days, from August 10–22, Hanson again refused at least one and often all of his meals. On August 20 Hanson returned his bed sheet with a message written on it with dirt. On August 22, after twelve days without food, Hanson again refused medical treatment. On August 24, Hanson called jail personnel complaining that his cell was too hot and threatened that, if the ventilation was not turned on, he would smear feces all over his cell. Hanson's erratic behavior continued from September 2007 to March 2008. Hanson refused daily recreation sixty-seven times, and was often unresponsive to jail authorities. The jail log reveals that after days without incident, Hanson would suddenly become abusive, make threats to jail personnel, throw his food on the floor, and trash his cell.

After a jury trial, Hanson was found guilty of aggravated assault. Several sentencing hearings were held in Hanson's case. At the first sentencing hearing, Hanson informed the district court that he would exercise his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and would not participate in a presentence investigation report (PSI). Despite Hanson's lack of participation, a PSI was prepared that included his criminal history, his Elmore County Jail log, and a 1982 PSI and inmate records that were obtained from the Utah Department of Corrections. The Utah PSI revealed that Hanson had a history of psychological problems including a childhood history of bullying other children and torturing animals, a juvenile psychological evaluation and treatment by an Idaho mental hospital, and several failed suicide attempts.

At the second sentencing hearing, Hanson requested that the district court order a psychological evaluation pursuant to I.C. § 19–2522. The district court denied Hanson's request for a psychological evaluation, reasoning that Hanson could not invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination with regard to the PSI and subsequently waive that right so as to participate in a psychological evaluation. The district court further reasoned that a psychological evaluation was not necessary because it did not believe that the additional information provided by a psychological evaluation would be helpful at sentencing.

During the third sentencing hearing, Hanson's counsel requested that Hanson undergo a competency evaluation pursuant to I.C. § 18–210 because of counsel's difficulty communicating with his client and because of Hanson's refusal to participate in the PSI. The district court denied the request for a competency evaluation, reasoning that Hanson had demonstrated that he understood the proceedings against him and was able to assist in his own defense.

The district court sentenced Hanson to a unified term of five years, with a minimum period of confinement of three years. The district court also ordered that Hanson undergo a psychological evaluation and treatment, as well as anger management and therapeutic community programs while incarcerated in the state penitentiary. Based on the district court's imposition of a sentence without ordering competency or psychological evaluations, Hanson filed a motion to reconsider his sentence. The district court denied Hanson's motion.

Hanson timely appealed. The Court of Appeals held that the district court abused its discretion when it denied Hanson's request for a psychological evaluation because Hanson's exercise of his Fifth Amendment privilege regarding the PSI did not preclude him from participating in a presentence psychological evaluation and because the record contained sufficient evidence that Hanson's mental health was a significant factor at sentencing, thus triggering the mandatory psychological evaluation required by I.C. § 19–2522. The Court of Appeals also held that the district court properly considered whether Hanson was capable of assisting with his defense and affirmed the court's denial of Hanson's request for a competency hearing. The Court of Appeals vacated the judgment and remanded to the district court for a presentence psychological evaluation and resentencing. This Court granted the State's petition for review.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

"In cases that come before this Court on a petition for review of a Court of Appeals decision, this Court gives serious consideration to the views of the Court of Appeals, but directly reviews the decision of the lower court." State v. James, 148 Idaho 574, 576, 225 P.3d 1169, 1171 (2010) (citing State v. Oliver, 144 Idaho 722, 724, 170 P.3d 387, 389 (2007) ). "The test for determining whether a district court abused its discretion is: (1) whether the court correctly perceived that the issue was one of discretion; (2) whether the court acted within the outer boundaries of its discretion and consistently with the legal standards applicable to the specific choices available to it; and (3) whether it reached its decision by an exercise of reason." Schmechel v. Dillé, 148 Idaho 176, 181, 219 P.3d 1192, 1197 (2009) (citing Sun Valley Shopping Ctr., Inc. v. Idaho Power Co., 119 Idaho 87, 94, 803 P.2d 993, 1000 (1991) ).

III. ANALYSIS

A. The trial court erred in denying Hanson's request for a psychological evaluation.

At Hanson's second sentencing hearing, the district court invited appellate review of its decision not to order a psychological evaluation pursuant to I.C. § 19–2522 :

THE COURT: ... But he can't say I'm going to participate with one part of the evaluation that I think might help me, but I'm going to stand silent with regard to the rest of the evaluation which I think won't help me. He can either exercise his fifth amendment right or he can choose not to exercise his fifth amendment right. He can't exercise his fifth amendment on one thing and not on the other in terms of the pre-sentence reports.

I don't know of any case that addresses this, since this is a relatively section [sic] of the statute, but I'm more than willing to try and make new case law on it because I think the statute is poorly drafted and poorly interpreted by our Court of Appeals at this point in time.

And so what I would like to see counsel is that if he wants to consent to cooperation then I'm more than willing to let him cooperate in the pre-sentence report and with the psychological evaluation. If he is going to say, no, I'm not going to participate in [the] pre-sentence report, but I want the psychological evaluation, I'm going to say no and we will let the Court of Appeals decide whether or not that can be done under the statute as drafted.

We accept the district court's invitation to address the Court of Appeals' interpretation of I.C. § 19–2522. We agree with that court's application of the plain language of the statute and hold that the district court erred in failing to order a psychological evaluation.

The State argues that Hanson's mental condition was not a significant factor at...