State v. Myers, 88-966

• Decision Date: 19 September 1990
• Docket Number: No. 88-966,88-966
• Citation: 460 N.W.2d 458
• Parties: STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Yvette Marie MYERS, Appellant.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 458

460 N.W.2d 458

STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. Yvette Marie MYERS, Appellant.

No. 88-966.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Sept. 19, 1990.

Raymond E. Rogers, Appellate Defender, and Andi S. Lipman and Barbara M. Anderson, Asst. Appellate Defenders, for appellant.

Thomas J. Miller, Atty. Gen., Ann E. Brenden, Asst. Atty. Gen., Denver Dillard, County Atty., and Jon Hammond, Asst. County Atty., for appellee.

Considered by McGIVERIN, C.J., and HARRIS, LARSON, SCHULTZ, and CARTER, JJ.

CARTER, Justice.

Defendant, Yvette Marie Myers, appeals from a conviction of second-degree murder, contending that a hearing should have been held on her competency to stand trial. The court of appeals, on a four-to-two vote, found that information which came to the trial court's attention during the trial raised serious questions concerning defendant's competency. Based on this finding, that court concluded that the trial court erred in not ordering a competency hearing sua sponte. It reversed defendant's conviction and granted a new trial. We granted further review of the court of appeals decision. After considering the arguments of the parties, we vacate the decision of the court of appeals and affirm the judgment of the district court.

Defendant was charged with the murder of her mother by striking her several times in the head with a hammer. Information came to light during pretrial proceedings that defendant had a history of mental illness diagnosed as schizophrenia, chronic and undifferentiated. She had been civilly committed as mentally impaired on more than one occasion dating back to 1983.

Prior to trial defendant was sent to the Iowa Security Medical Facility (the medical facility) for purposes of evaluating her competency to stand trial. While she was at the medical facility, her counsel filed a motion for a competency hearing. That motion recited that the allegations therein were "on information and belief." After the deposition of Dr. Curtis Fredrickson, a staff doctor at the medical facility, was taken, the defendant withdrew her request for a competency hearing.

The case was tried to the court on stipulated facts plus the deposition testimony of the staff doctor from the medical facility and testimony from a clinical psychologist. Defendant was convicted of second-degree murder in a ruling issued on October 27, 1987. Between the time of conviction and sentencing, a hearing was held on defendant's competency posttrial. During this proceeding, defendant was represented by counsel other than the attorney who represented her at trial.

As a result of the posttrial competency hearing, the court determined on March 15, 1988, that defendant was not then sufficiently competent to understand the nature of the proceedings. Sentencing was delayed, and defendant was sent to the Independence Mental Health Institute. On May 13, 1988, a staff psychiatrist at that institution advised the court that defendant's mental condition was substantially improved. He deemed her to be competent at that time to proceed to the sentencing stage of the criminal prosecution. Based on that report, sentencing occurred on June 7, 1988.

In seeking to overturn the court of appeals decision and uphold the judgment of conviction, the State argues that the matter of defendant's competency to stand trial was fully explored at an evidentiary posttrial hearing. It contends that substantial evidence offered at that hearing supports the trial court's refusal to grant a new trial as a result of defendant's competency claim. This argument does not really answer the claim being made on the present appeal.

The claim on appeal (and the issue on which the court of appeals ordered a new trial) does not involve whether defendant was in fact competent to stand trial at the time the trial occurred. Rather, the issue presented on appeal is whether, under Iowa Code section 812.3 (1989), the import of the information which came to the trial court's attention immediately prior to and during the trial created enough doubt as to defendant's competency that an evidentiary hearing was required.

If the court of appeals was correct in concluding that matters known to the trial court mandated a hearing under section 812.3, then we believe the failure to hold such a hearing was probably not capable of being cured by an ex post facto determination of competency sometime after the trial was held. See, e.g., Pate v. Robinson, 383 U.S. 375, 387, 86 S.Ct. 836, 843, 15 L.Ed.2d 815, 823 (1966); Dusky v. United States, 362 U.S. 402, 403, 80 S.Ct. 788, 789, 4 L.Ed.2d 824, 825 (1960). Consequently, we review the State's petition for further review and the substantive issues on appeal solely with respect to matters which might have alerted the district court as to the necessity of a...