State v. Meeks

• Decision Date: 05 February 2002
• Docket Number: No. 01-0263-CR.,01-0263-CR.
• Citation: 2002 WI App 65,251 Wis.2d 361,643 N.W.2d 526
• Parties: STATE of Wisconsin, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Jerry J. MEEKS, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Wisconsin Court of Appeals

251 Wis.2d 361

2002 WI App 65

643 N.W.2d 526

STATE of Wisconsin, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Jerry J. MEEKS, Defendant-Appellant.¹

No. 01-0263-CR.

Court of Appeals of Wisconsin.

Submitted on briefs December 4, 2001.

Decided February 5, 2002.

On behalf of the defendant-appellant, the cause was submitted on the briefs of Howard B. Eisenberg, of Milwaukee.

On behalf of the plaintiff-respondent, the cause was submitted on the brief of James E. Doyle, attorney general, and Eileen W. Pray, assistant attorney general.

Before Wedemeyer, P.J., Fine and Schudson, JJ.

¶ 1. SCHUDSON, J.

Jerry J. Meeks appeals from the judgment of conviction for felony murder—armed robbery (habitual criminality), following his guilty plea and sentencing. He challenges the circuit court order, entered approximately six months before his guilty plea, concluding that he was competent to proceed.² ¶ 2. Meeks argues that the circuit court, at the competency hearing, erred: (1) by considering his prior attorney's testimony, which, Meeks maintains, divulged privileged communications; (2) in evaluating his trial attorney's opinion of his competence; and (3) in considering the evidence in several other ways. Finally, Meeks argues that the circuit court erred in denying his request for an additional competency hearing before accepting his guilty plea and, again, before sentencing him.

¶ 3. We conclude that an attorney's testimony on the subject of a client's competency is admissible at a competency hearing and that, in this case, because prior counsel's testimony was relevant to Meeks's competency and did not divulge privileged communications, it was properly admitted. Further, we conclude that, in this case, the circuit court also properly considered trial counsel's view and all the other evidence, and reasonably concluded that Meeks was competent. Finally, we conclude that because Meeks offered nothing to show that his condition had changed between the time the circuit court found him competent and the time of his guilty plea and sentencing, he was not entitled to an additional competency hearing. Therefore, we affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

¶ 4. On December 12, 1998, Meeks and two accomplices were charged, as parties to the crime, with felony murder, habitual criminality, resulting from their December 6, 1998 armed robbery and killing of Narinder Singh, the owner of a Milwaukee food store.³ On December 22, 1998, the date scheduled for Meeks's preliminary hearing, Meeks's attorney first raised the competency issue and asked for an examination. See WIS. STAT. § 971.13(1) (1997-1998)⁴ ("No person who lacks substantial mental capacity to understand the proceedings or assist in his or her own defense may be tried, convicted or sentenced for the commission of an offense so long as the incapacity endures."); see also WIS. STAT. § 971.14.⁵

¶ 5. On February 10, 1999, following a hearing at which the circuit court received a report from Dr. Gary J. Maier, a psychiatrist who had examined Meeks at the Mendota Mental Health Institute pursuant to the court's order, the court found that Meeks was not competent. The court then adjourned the hearing for a later determination of whether Meeks was likely to regain competency.

¶ 6. For the next eleven months, Meeks continued to receive treatment as well as additional evaluations from Dr. Maier and other psychiatrists and psychologists. During this time, in seven separate sessions between June 22, 1999 and January 3, 2000, the court conducted a competency hearing at which it considered numerous reports and extensive testimony from psychiatrists and psychologists who had examined Meeks. The court also heard testimony from: Assistant State Public Defender Mary Scholle, who had represented Meeks in criminal cases in 1994 and 1996-97; Sandra Bucholtz, a probation/parole agent who had supervised Meeks in 1993-94; and Colleen Frey, a probation/parole agent who had supervised Meeks in 1996-97. Additionally, the court observed Meeks at the hearing and interacted directly with him when asking whether he would testify.

¶ 7. On January 4, 2000, following the completion of the hearing, the court presented a lengthy oral decision analyzing the evidence. The court accurately summarized the reports and testimony, acknowledged Meeks's history of mental health problems and his current cognitive limitations, recognized the many uncertainties reflected by the evidence, and noted the difficulty in discerning whether Meeks was malingering. Ultimately, however, the court determined that Meeks was competent to proceed.

II. CHALLENGES TO THE COMPETENCY HEARING

[1, 2]

¶ 8. To be competent to proceed in a criminal case, a defendant must be able "to understand the nature and object of the proceedings against him [or her], to consult with counsel, and to assist in preparing his [or her] defense." Drope v. Missouri, 420 U.S. 162, 171 (1975); see also State v. Byrge, 2000 WI 101, ¶ 27, 237 Wis. 2d 197, 614 N.W.2d 477

. In Wisconsin, when competency is at issue, the circuit court must find a criminal defendant incompetent to proceed unless the State proves by the greater weight of the credible evidence that the defendant is competent. See Byrge, 2000 WI 101 at ¶ 30; see also WIS. STAT. § 971.14(4)(b).

[3, 4]

¶ 9. These standards remain the same regardless of the stage of the criminal proceedings at which the competency issue is raised. Godinez v. Moran, 509 U.S. 389, 397-99 (1993) (competency test is the same for purposes of determining defendant's capacity to stand trial, plead guilty, or waive counsel). Further, at any stage, the focus of the competency hearing is the defendant's capacity to understand the proceedings and assist in the defense at the time of the proceedings. Byrge, 2000 WI 101 at ¶ 31.

[5-7]

¶ 10. "The aims of a competency hearing are modest, seeking to verify that the defendant can satisfy the understand-and-assist test." Id. at ¶ 48.⁶ A competency hearing is a judicial inquiry guided by the evidence and legal standard, not a clinical inquiry dictated by a medical diagnosis. Id. "[B]ecause a competency hearing presents a unique category of inquiry in which the circuit court is in the best position to apply the law to the facts," our review of the court's findings and conclusion is highly deferential. Id. at ¶ 4. We will uphold a circuit court's competency determination unless it is clearly erroneous, see id.; that is, unless it is totally unsupported by the record, see State v. Garfoot, 207 Wis. 2d 214, 224, 558 N.W.2d 626 (1997)

.

A. Remoteness

¶ 11. Meeks first argues that the circuit court was "clearly wrong to decide that [he] was competent to stand trial" because it "gave greatest weight to the most remote evidence"—the testimony of Scholle, Bucholtz, and Frey, who had not had contact with Meeks for years preceding their testimony at the competency hearing. Meeks contrasts their testimony to that of the many mental health professionals, all of whom had recently examined him in order to offer their competency opinions. Meeks insists that the court based its conclusion "largely on the testimony of the lay witnesses, Mary Scholle, in particular." In a related argument, Meeks adds that the court "did not consider the possibility that [he] had become incompetent since the lay witnesses had contact with him."

¶ 12. Meeks's theory is clear: (1) the psychiatrists and psychologists opined that he was incompetent; (2) Scholle and the probation/parole agents suggested otherwise; (3) the court concluded that he was competent; and therefore (4) the court must have based that conclusion on the testimony of Scholle and the agents, all of which should have carried relatively little weight given the temporal remoteness of their contact with Meeks. Meeks's theory, however, does not fairly reflect either the testimony or the circuit court's analysis of the evidence. The record does not establish that the court based its determination of competency "largely on the testimony" of Scholle and the probation/parole agents. And the record does not reflect that the court improperly considered their testimony.

¶ 13. The circuit court recounted the various views of the psychiatrists and psychologists and their tentative conclusions and opinions. The court recognized that these professionals, for the most part, opined that Meeks was incompetent. The court also recognized, however, that some of them also expressed considerable doubt and questioned whether Meeks was malingering. ¶ 14. Understandably, therefore, the court looked to the additional evidence from Scholle and the agents and valued their testimony about their numerous contacts with Meeks, both in court and on probation/parole. Learning that Scholle and the agents had not considered Meeks incompetent at any time during their years of contact with him, the court fairly reasoned that the mental health professionals' testimony was "compromised by what they do not know, by their inability to perceive [Meeks] functioning outside of the mental health institution."

¶ 15. The court's consideration of the lay testimony was particularly appropriate in this case where, as appellate counsel concedes, Meeks "can relate facts regarding his crime and can even answer questions about the historical facts," but where, appellate counsel asserts, Meeks "has no comprehension or understanding of the legal process." Because the defense was seeking to establish that Meeks was too cognitively impaired to proceed, it was logical for the State to counter with evidence establishing that his mental condition had not changed since the time Scholle represented him and that, when she did so, Scholle deemed Meeks competent to proceed.

[8, 9]

¶ 16. "Only the trial court can judge the credibility of witnesses who testify at the competency hearing," and weigh their testimony. Garfoot, 207 Wis. 2d at 223. Moreover, while "a competency inquiry focuses on a defendant's ability at the time of the present...