State v. Holland

• Decision Date: 21 June 1996
• Docket Number: No. 910352,910352
• Citation: 921 P.2d 430
• Parties: STATE of Utah, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. James Louis HOLLAND, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: Utah Supreme Court

Page 430

921 P.2d 430

STATE of Utah, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. James Louis HOLLAND, Defendant and Appellant.

No. 910352.

Supreme Court of Utah.

June 21, 1996.

Rehearing Denied June 21, 1996.

R. Paul Van Dam, Atty. Gen., J. Frederic Voros, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Salt Lake City, for plaintiff.

J. Bruce Savage, Park City, for defendant.

AMENDED OPINION

RUSSON, Justice:

James Louis Holland appeals from a sentence of death imposed following a second penalty hearing in a capital homicide case. We reverse and remand.

FACTS

Because the issues involved in this appeal relate solely to events subsequent to Holland's arrest in this matter, we recite only the facts that are pertinent to those issues. A full discussion of the facts concerning the events leading up to and including Holland's arrest can be found in State v. Holland, 777 P.2d 1019, 1020-21 (Utah 1989) (Holland I ).

On July 14, 1987, James Louis Holland was charged by information with murder in the first degree, a capital offense, in violation of section 76-5-202(1)(h) of the Utah Code, and two counts of theft. At his arraignment on September 1, 1987, Holland pleaded guilty to Holland appealed, challenging both his conviction and his sentence. In Holland I, this court affirmed his conviction but vacated the death sentence because the trial court improperly applied the principles laid out in State v. Wood, 648 P.2d 71 (Utah 1982), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 988, 103 S.Ct. 341, 74 L.Ed.2d 383 (1982), and we remanded the case for a second penalty hearing. Holland I, 777 P.2d at 1028.

one count of capital homicide and the two theft counts were dismissed. Following a sentencing hearing on September 17, 1987, Holland was sentenced to death.

Following remand, Holland moved to withdraw his guilty plea on the ground that he was not competent at the time he made the plea. At a hearing on Holland's motion, the trial court heard testimony from two expert witnesses, Dr. Lebegue and Dr. Howell, who disagreed as to whether Holland was competent at the time of his initial guilty plea. The parties also addressed the testimony of another expert witness, Dr. DeCaria, who had testified at Holland's first penalty hearing in September 1987 that Holland was not competent at the time he made his plea. The State further presented the report of an expert in an unrelated case involving Holland which stated that the expert "could not find clear and convincing evidence" that Holland was mentally ill in December 1988. The trial court also heard testimony from James Bell, one of the officers who arrested Holland in this matter, whose testimony contradicted certain aspects of Dr. Lebegue's testimony. The trial court subsequently denied Holland's motion, concluding that Holland was competent at the time he entered his initial plea in this matter.

At the second penalty hearing, Holland's counsel, Elliott Levine, introduced no new evidence regarding the appropriate punishment but merely submitted the transcript from the first penalty hearing to the trial court. Moreover, Levine did not counter the factual propositions urged by the prosecution in support of the death penalty or argue that life imprisonment rather than death was the appropriate penalty. The trial judge imposed a death sentence for the second time.

Holland again appealed. State v. Holland, 876 P.2d 357, 358 (Utah 1994) (Holland II ). While that appeal was pending, Levine, who had been appointed to defend Von Lester Taylor in an unrelated capital homicide case, called Holland as a witness to testify at Taylor's penalty hearing. Id. at 358-59. Levine sought to question Holland about his background and criminal acts so the jury could compare Taylor's background and criminal activities with those of Holland. Id. at 358. Levine sought to use this testimony to demonstrate that when compared to Holland, Taylor did not deserve the death penalty. Id. The State objected to allowing Holland to testify in the Taylor case, and the trial court excluded the testimony. Id. Taylor was subsequently sentenced to death, and an appeal was taken in which Levine argued that the trial court erred in excluding Holland's testimony. Id. at 358-59. On appeal in Taylor's case, Levine argued that the trial court erred in excluding Holland's testimony on the ground that it should have been permitted to support an argument to the jury that a person such as Holland, "who has committed multiple murders, has been incarcerated for nearly his whole life, comes from an abusive childhood, and who has little, if any remorse ... is a prime candidate for the death penalty while [Taylor is] not." ¹ Id. at 359 (alterations in original).

In Holland II, this court did not reach the merits of the case but instead disqualified Levine on the ground that he breached his duty of loyalty to Holland in contravention of the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and assigned Holland new counsel. Id. at 361.

The present appeal is brought by Holland's new counsel, who argues that the trial court erred in denying Holland's motion to withdraw

his guilty plea and that Levine rendered ineffective assistance of counsel. ²

ANALYSIS

Holland argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion to withdraw his guilty plea on the ground that he was not competent to make such a plea. The State responds that the trial court correctly determined that Holland was competent when he made his guilty plea and therefore the trial court's ruling should be upheld.

We review a trial court's denial of a motion to withdraw a guilty plea under an "abuse of discretion" standard, incorporating the "clearly erroneous" standard for the trial court's findings of fact made in conjunction with that decision. State v. Blair, 868 P.2d 802, 805 (Utah 1993). However, the ultimate question of whether the trial court strictly complied with constitutional and procedural requirements for entry of a guilty plea is a question of law that is reviewed for correctness. See generally State v. Pena, 869 P.2d 932, 936, 938 (Utah 1994); Willett v. Barnes, 842 P.2d 860, 861 (Utah 1992).

In determining whether a defendant is competent to plead guilty, the trial court must consider "whether the defendant 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.' " Godinez v. Moran, 509 U.S. 389, 396, 113 S.Ct. 2680, 2685, 125 L.Ed.2d 321 (1993) (quoting Dusky v. United States, 362 U.S. 402, 402, 80 S.Ct. 788, 789, 4 L.Ed.2d 824 (1960) (per curiam)). In the present case, the dispute over Holland's competency does not concern whether he lacked a rational and factual understanding of the proceedings, but solely focuses on whether, at the time of his guilty plea, Holland lacked the ability to consult with his attorney in a reasonable and rational fashion.

At the time the trial court denied Holland's motion to withdraw his guilty plea, it had before it the following expert testimony on which to base its decision: Dr. Lebegue's testimony from the hearing on that motion, Dr. Howell's testimony from that hearing, and Dr. DeCaria's testimony from the first penalty hearing. ³ After receiving the above evidence, the trial court concluded that Holland was competent at the time he made his initial guilty plea, basing its conclusion on two factors: (1) a statement from this court's opinion in Holland I that Holland "fully knew and understood the nature of the proceedings and charges against him and was competent to assist in the proceedings against him," 777 P.2d at 1024, and (2) the trial judge's own recollection that at the time he accepted Holland's guilty plea, he "felt that Mr. Holland was very articulate." Consequently, the trial court decided that Holland was competent at the time he made his initial guilty plea and denied his motion to withdraw that plea.

After reviewing the evidence available to the trial court, we conclude that the trial court erred in determining that Holland was competent at the time he made his initial guilty plea. At the hearing on the motion to withdraw Holland's guilty plea, Dr. Lebegue stated that he had reviewed numerous documents and interviewed Holland on a number of occasions. On the basis of information gathered from these documents and interviews, Dr. Lebegue testified that in September 1987, when Holland initially pleaded guilty in this matter, Holland "suffered from a mental illness that is known as bipolar disorder with mixed features." Dr. Lebegue later referred to Holland's condition as "manic depressive illness." He further testified that the illness "rendered [Holland] incompetent to enter the plea in September of 1987" due to "impulsivity, poor judgment, and the suicidality [sic] that he expressed at that time." Specifically, Dr. Lebegue testified that Holland's incompetency was reflected in his inability "to assist his counsel in his defense." See Utah Code Ann. § 77-15-2 (1982). ⁴ Finally, Dr. Lebegue explained that although he could not verify to a reasonable medical certainty that Holland was incompetent in a November 1987 letter to the court, later interviews confirmed his initial opinion that Holland suffered from "bipolar, or so-called manic/depressive, illness with mixed features, elevated irritable mood, high energy, as well as suicide and depression." In short, Dr. Lebegue's testimony does not support the trial court's conclusion that Holland was competent to enter his initial guilty plea.

Similarly, Dr. DeCaria's testimony from the first penalty hearing indicates that Holland was incompetent at the time he pleaded guilty and does not support the trial court's conclusion to the contrary. Specifically, Dr. DeCaria testified as follows: "I have an opinion about Mr. Holland's competency to enter a plea in this case, and I have great doubt, grave doubt, in my own mind, that he is or was competent to enter a plea." Dr....