State v. McFarland

• Decision Date: 17 June 1994
• Docket Number: No. 20486,20486
• Citation: 125 Idaho 876,876 P.2d 158
• Parties: STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Bobby McFARLAND, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Idaho Court of Appeals

Page 158

876 P.2d 158

125 Idaho 876

STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Bobby McFARLAND, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 20486.

Court of Appeals of Idaho.

June 17, 1994.

Hollis J. Anderson and Marty M. Raap, Wallace, for appellant. Marty M. Raap argued.

Larry EchoHawk, Atty. Gen., Myrna A.I. Stahman, Deputy Atty. Gen., Boise, for respondent. Paige L. Stevenson, Legal Intern, argued.

WALTERS, Chief Justice.

Bobby McFarland was charged in the brutal stabbing death of a Shoshone County man. While claiming to have no recollection of the incident, McFarland entered an Alford plea ¹ to charges of second degree murder and robbery. The district court refused McFarland's repeated requests for a psychological evaluation and imposed a sentence of life in the custody of the Board of Correction, with a minimum mandatory term of ten years' incarceration. As discussed below, we conclude that the district court erred in refusing to order a psychological evaluation. Accordingly, we vacate the McFarland's sentence and remand the case to the district court for resentencing after first obtaining a psychological evaluation.

Facts.

Sometime after midnight on January 10, 1992, Harold Bart was brutally beaten, robbed, and then stabbed to death near the Kellogg Lumber Company, in Shoshone County, Idaho. On January 18, McFarland and his co-defendant, Dan Graff, were arrested by police for robbing Julia Arnold as she was leaving the Yokes Pac 'N Save. The execution of a search warrant issued in conjunction with that offense turned up evidence incriminating Graff in the Bart murder. Graff admitted he was involved in the murder, and also made statements against McFarland. According to Graff, he and McFarland struck up a conversation with Mr. Bart while walking home from the grocery store. The three men engaged in brief and evidently cordial conversation, after which McFarland and Graff walked away. McFarland and Graff then decided to rob Mr. Bart. Acting in concert, they attacked Mr. Bart, beating and kicking him into unconsciousness. Graff claimed that McFarland then removed a bone-handled knife Mr. Bart was wearing from its sheath, and repeatedly stabbed Mr. Bart in the chest. ² McFarland and Graff then removed from Mr. Bart his leather vest, wallet, watch and two one-dollar bills. McFarland wiped the knife clean and hid it under some nearby crates, and the two men then fled the scene.

McFarland denied Graff's accusations, claiming to have no recollection of the events the night Mr. Bart was murdered, although he acknowledged he had woken later that morning in possession of Mr. Bart's bloodied vest. Based on this evidence, McFarland ³ was charged with the first degree murder and robbery of Mr. Bart, and with the subsequent robbery of Ms. Arnold. In February of 1992, McFarland, through counsel, requested that the court order a psychological evaluation. The court evidently denied the motion. ⁴ Still maintaining he could not remember what had happened the night Mr. Bart was killed, McFarland entered Alford pleas to a reduced charge of second degree murder and to both of the robbery charges. The court accepted McFarland's pleas and ordered a presentence investigation report. McFarland filed another motion requesting the court to order a psychological evaluation before sentencing. The motion was denied. After receiving and reviewing the report prepared by the presentence investigator, McFarland moved for a new report citing the report's improper inclusion of speculation and conjecture, and other alleged flaws. After conducting a hearing on the motion, the court denied McFarland's request, indicating that it would make the necessary corrections by interlineation.

The sentencing hearing was held on December 29, 1992. On December 31, the district court sentenced McFarland to an aggregate term of life, with ten years' fixed, for the murder and robbery of Mr. Bart, and ordered McFarland to serve a seven-year sentence, with one-year fixed, for the robbery of Ms. Arnold. The court further ordered that the sentences be served concurrently. McFarland timely filed this appeal.

Seeking to have his sentences set aside, McFarland asserts (1) that the district court erred in refusing to order a psychological evaluation prior to sentencing; (2) that the district court erred in refusing to order a new presentence report; and (3) that the district court erred in considering "lack of remorse" as a sentencing factor.

1. Refusal to Order a Psychological Evaluation.

We turn first to whether the district court erred in refusing to order a psychological report. "After the determination of guilt it is essential that the court receive adequate information about the defendant before handing down the sentence. Individualizing sentences is impossible without such information." IDAHO JUDGE'S SENTENCING MANUAL, § 5.1 (1987 Rev.), quoted in State v. Romero, 116 Idaho 391, 393, 775 P.2d 1233, 1235 (1989). Before imposing a sentence, the court may, in its discretion, appoint a psychologist to evaluate and report on the mental condition of the defendant. See I.C. § 19-2522; I.C.R. 32(d); State v. Puente-Gomez, 121 Idaho 702, 705, 827 P.2d 715, 718 (Ct.App.1992); State v. Pearson, 108 Idaho 889, 890, 702 P.2d 927, 928 (Ct.App.1985). As with any discretionary determination, however, the district court's action must be consistent with the applicable legal standards. See State v. Hedger, 115 Idaho 598, 600, 768 P.2d 1331, 1333 (1989).

The legal standards governing the court's decision whether to order a psychological evaluation and report are contained in I.C. § 19-2522. That statute provides that a psychological evaluation and report are mandatory "[I]f there is reason to believe the mental condition of the defendant will be a significant factor at sentencing and for good cause shown." I.C. § 19-2522(1); ⁵ State v. King, 120 Idaho 955, 958, 821 P.2d 1010, 1013 (Ct.App.1991). Furthermore, where the court appoints a psychologist to evaluate the defendant's mental condition, the contents of the ensuing report must satisfy the criteria set out in I.C. § 19-2522(3). ⁶ Our previous decisions indicate, however, that even if there is reason to believe the defendant's mental condition will be a significant factor at sentencing, the court nonetheless may deny the request for a new evaluation if the information contained in existing reports satisfies the requirements of I.C. § 19-2522(3). See State v. Hernandez, 122 Idaho 227, 232, 832 P.2d 1162, 1167 (Ct.App.1992); King, 120 Idaho at 958, 821 P.2d at 1013; State v. Pearson, 108 Idaho 889, 890, 702 P.2d 927, 928 (Ct.App.1985); State v. Bylama, 103 Idaho 472, 474, 649 P.2d 1228, 1230 (Ct.App.1982).

Pursuant to the above standards, we will uphold the district court's refusal to order a psychological evaluation of McFarland if (1) the record supports a finding that there was no reason to believe his mental condition would be a "significant factor at sentencing," see Puente-Gomez, 121 Idaho at 706, 827 P.2d at 716; or if (2) the information already before the court adequately meets the requirements of I.C. § 19-2522(3).

In the instant case, the district judge made no findings on the record stating its basis for denying McFarland's request for a psychological evaluation. Consequently, we will infer the necessary predicate findings from the court's ruling. See State v. Nobles, 122 Idaho 509, 512, 835 P.2d 1320, 1323 (Ct.App.1991), aff'd, 122 Idaho 470, 835 P.2d 1281 (1992). ⁷ Such findings--that there was no reason to believe McFarland's mental condition would be a significant factor at sentencing, or, alternatively, that the record contained sufficient information concerning McFarland's mental condition--will not be disturbed on appeal if they are supported by substantial, even if conflicting evidence. Id.

With these standards in mind, we turn to the specific questions presented by this appeal.

A. Does the record support a finding that McFarland's mental condition would not be a significant factor at sentencing?

McFarland asserts that the information presented to the district court cannot reasonably be viewed to support a finding that his mental condition would not be a significant factor at sentencing. We agree.

The presentence report depicts McFarland as a young man of extremely low intelligence; his I.Q. score of 71 places him on the borderline level of mental functioning. He comes from a dysfunctional family offering him very little stability, and his parents had problems with alcohol abuse. McFarland's educational history is sketchy, but does show that in his eighth-grade year--the last year of his formal schooling--he was placed in "special education" classes exclusively, except for a course in shop. His classroom supervisor reported that McFarland had moods that vacillate: during "good days" he is capable of complying with the training program, but during his "bad days" he has problems completing his training. Although evidence that McFarland suffers from some sort of mental disability has long been present, no professional evaluation of McFarland's mental condition has ever been conducted.

In State v. French, 95 Idaho 853, 522 P.2d 61 (1974), the Supreme Court vacated a twenty-five year sentence for rape, holding that "the omission of [a psychological] evaluation in this case deprived the district court of pertinent information essential to pronouncing an appropriate judgment." Id. at 855, 522 P.2d at 63. Characterizing the portion of the presentence report concerning the defendant's mental health as "sketchy and unskilled," the Court in French remarked:

This offers absolutely no evaluation of or insight into the psychological makeup of the defendant which is so vital in light of the presentence report's social and economic description of the defendant. In this case the presentence report described the defendant as a family man and a dependable worker without any prior criminal record who committed a...