State v. Kempf

• Decision Date: 29 August 1979
• Docket Number: No. 63388,63388
• Citation: 282 N.W.2d 704
• Parties: STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Allen Dean KEMPF, Appellant.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 704

282 N.W.2d 704

STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Allen Dean KEMPF, Appellant.

No. 63388.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Aug. 29, 1979.

John D. Hudson, of Carney, Hudson & Williams, Des Moines, for appellant.

Thomas J. Miller, Atty. Gen., and Selwyn D. Dallyn, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

Considered by REYNOLDSON, C. J., and REES, McCORMICK, ALLBEE, and LARSON, JJ.

McCORMICK, Justice.

Defendant Allen Dean Kempf is a juvenile who was charged with delinquency based upon his alleged participation in the December 28, 1978, robbery of the Farmer's and Trader's Savings Bank of Douds. The trial court overruled his motion for psychiatric examination and, after hearing, sustained the State's motion to transfer the case for prosecution under the criminal law. After transfer, defendant tendered a guilty plea to the charge of robbery in the second degree in violation of section 711.3, The Code 1979, over the objection of his lawyer, who alleged he was incompetent to plead guilty. The trial court accepted the guilty plea and ordered a psychiatric examination as part of the presentence investigation. Despite a psychiatric report which noted defendant had severe intellectual and emotional deficiencies, the trial court overruled defendant's motion to return the case to juvenile court for disposition and sentenced him to a term not to exceed ten years in the penitentiary. In this appeal defendant challenges his conviction and the principal rulings of the trial court. We reverse and remand.

The main question is whether the trial court erred in accepting defendant's guilty plea when an issue of his competency allegedly existed.

This case comes within the error preservation rule of State v. Gardner, 274 N.W.2d 328, 329 (Iowa 1979), rather than State v. Reaves, 254 N.W.2d 488, 493 (Iowa 1977), or Iowa R.Crim.P. 23(3)(a). Therefore we need not decide whether it would otherwise have been necessary for defendant to raise the issue of his competency to plead guilty in a motion in arrest of judgment. See § 812.3, The Code 1979; Cf. Carstens v. Rans, 210 N.W.2d 663, 665 (Iowa 1973) (defendant did not waive competency issue under predecessor statute by failing to urge incompetency at trial).

The standard for ascertaining a defendant's competency is delineated in section 812.3, which provides:

If at any stage of a criminal proceeding it reasonably appears that the defendant is suffering from a mental disorder which prevents him or her from appreciating the charge, understanding the proceedings, or assisting effectively in the defense, further proceedings must be suspended and a hearing had upon that question.

This statute supplants section 783.1, The Code 1977, which provided:

If a defendant appears in any stage of the trial of a criminal prosecution, and a reasonable doubt arises as to his sanity, further proceedings must be suspended and a trial had upon that question.

The standard in section 812.3 for determining competency is a codification of the standard for determining "sanity" prescribed in cases decided under the prior statute. See, e. g., Hickey v. District Court, 174 N.W.2d 406, 409 (Iowa 1970).

However, the statutes differ in two important respects. First, whereas the prior statute required a hearing on competency when a "reasonable doubt" arose, the present statute requires a hearing when a question of competency under the statutory standard "reasonably appears." Second, while the competency determination was previously made in a jury trial, it is now to be made in a hearing conducted by the court. See § 812.4.

Our prior cases explained the reasonable doubt concept in section 783.1 in part by saying such doubt existed when the trial court possessed information "sufficient to warrant a man of reasonable caution to believe the accused in a criminal matter can or cannot appreciate the charge against him, understand the proceedings, and help conduct his defense." E. g., Hickey v. District Court, 174 N.W.2d at 410. Those cases also said the determination of the existence of a reasonable doubt involved an exercise of judicial discretion. E. g., State v. Evans, 259 N.W.2d 789, 792 (Iowa 1977). Despite this, upon review we made our own independent examination of the record to determine whether a reasonable doubt existed. E. g., State v. Walton, 228 N.W.2d 21, 24 (Iowa 1975). We believe the legislature changed the language of the statute in an effort to simplify the test for determining when a competency hearing should be held.

We conclude that the present statute requires a hearing on the issue of competency when the record contains information from which a reasonable person would believe a substantial question of the defendant's competency exists. The question is a legal one. Trial court discretion is not involved.

When the defendant's competency during trial court proceedings is challenged on appeal, our task is to examine the information before the trial court to determine if at the relevant time an unresolved question of the defendant's competency reasonably appeared. Because constitutional safeguards are implicated, we make our own evaluation of the totality of the circumstances. State v. Thomas, 205 N.W.2d 717, 721 (Iowa 1973). This means we review the record de novo. Bettuo v. Pelton, 260 N.W.2d 423, 425 (Iowa 1977).

A guilty plea proceeding is a "stage of a criminal proceeding" for purposes of section 812.3. See State v. Evans, 259 N.W.2d at 792.

Furthermore, when a question of competency exists the validity of a guilty plea cannot be determined merely by examining the trial court's compliance with State v. Sisco, 169 N.W.2d 542 (Iowa 1969), and Brainard v. State, 222 N.W.2d 711 (Iowa 1974). The Sisco-Brainard procedures assume the competency of the defendant to enter the plea and do not involve an inquiry into his mental capacity. State v. Walton, 228 N.W.2d at 24.

With this background, we turn to the evidence. At the time of the alleged offense and plea proceeding defendant was sixteen years old. According to his father he was expelled from school on the first day of seventh grade for "leaning his chair back." He spent approximately three additional years in special education.

From the outset defendant's trial court attorney, C. K. Pettit, raised the question of his competency. When the case was still in juvenile court he moved that defendant undergo a psychiatric examination at state expense. Defendant was the only witness at the hearing on the motion. In response to routine questions of counsel, he testified he could not remember how long he had been in jail. He said he had "sort of" been in special education until sometime in 1978 but could not remember the month he quit school. He asserted he could not remember when he last had a job. He said he had not had very many. He also said he had some money but could not remember how much. He had never undergone a mental evaluation. No other evidence was presented, and the motion for examination was overruled.

At the hearing on the State's motion to transfer the case to criminal court, a probation officer testified defendant's only prior contact with the law involved a child in need of assistance adjudication in Wapello County in March 1977 based on a theft of money from parking meters in Ottumwa. He had been released from probation in November 1978. The only other witness in that proceeding was defendant's father who testified that defendant had learned nothing in special education, had gotten into trouble through the influence of his friends, and needed guidance.

After transfer of the case to criminal court, defendant deluged his attorney with letters from the jail expressing in a rambling, confused and desperate way his feeling that the judge had already decided to send him to prison. He said he was "going crazy" in jail and desired to plead guilty and get started on his prison time to "get it over with."

At defendant's insistence and over his lawyer's objection and allegation of his incompetency, defendant entered a guilty plea to the charge of robbery in the second degree. Largely through leading questions, the trial court conducted the regular Sisco-Brainard interrogation. Defendant made appropriate acknowledgements regarding his understanding and intentions.

However, under questioning by his attorney he said he wanted to plead guilty "to get this over with." When asked why, he said, "Ain't nothing to do up there hardly," presumably referring to the county jail.

The trial court accepted the plea but said that, in view of attorney Pettit's concern, a psychiatric examination would be ordered as part of the presentence investigation in order to obtain information regarding defendant's understanding of the nature of the charge and consequences of his plea.

At the time fixed for sentencing, the trial court reviewed the presentence and psychiatric reports preparatory to ruling on defendant's motion to remand the case to juvenile court for disposition. The presentence report disclosed a claim by defendant that he had been drinking alcoholic beverages since he was thirteen and that alcohol had become a major problem for him. In his version of the bank robbery, he said:

They said they'd buy me a six pack if I'd help rob the bank and I'd already had six beers. That's what got me into this. We just did it. Tim and Tom thought of the idea. Just drove off after we did it.

The court interrogated him as follows:

THE COURT: Now, with respect to item number four, it says that you claimed that the reason that you helped rob the bank was because somebody told you they would buy you a six-pack of beer and you had already had six beers.

DEFENDANT: Yeah.

THE COURT: Are you trying to tell me you were so drunk you didn't know what you were doing?

DEFENDANT: Yeah.

THE COURT: In that case, I cannot accept your plea of guilty.

DEFENDANT: No.

THE COURT: No what? If you are telling me you were so drunk you did not know what you were doing, I am not accepting your...