State v. Sanders

• Decision Date: 16 May 2001
• Docket Number: No. 28400.,28400.
• Citation: 549 S.E.2d 40,209 W.Va. 367
• Court: West Virginia Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE of West Virginia, Plaintiff Below, Appellee, v. Lewis Franklin SANDERS, Defendant Below, Appellant.

549 S.E.2d 40

209 W.Va. 367

STATE of West Virginia, Plaintiff Below, Appellee, v. Lewis Franklin SANDERS, Defendant Below, Appellant.

No. 28400.

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

Submitted March 6, 2001.

Decided May 16, 2001.

Gregory L. Ayers, Deputy Public Defender, Charleston, for Appellant.

Darrell V. McGraw, Jr., Attorney General, Heather D. Foster, Assistant Attorney General, Charleston, for Appellee.

McGRAW, Chief Justice.

Lewis Franklin Sanders appeals his conviction on the charge of robbery with the use of a firearm, W. Va.Code § 61-2-12 (1961), and resulting forty-year sentence. This case presents two principal issues for the Court's consideration: First, Sanders asserts that the circuit court erred by refusing to grant his motion for a mistrial, where he claimed that he was not mentally competent to stand trial. Second, he argues that the forty-year sentence imposed by the trial court amounts to constitutionally impermissible punishment for exercising his right to a jury trial, where, prior to trial and in clear violation of West Virginia Rule of Criminal Procedure 11(e), the court offered Sanders a sentence of thirty-years imprisonment if he chose to plead guilty. We find merit in Sanders' claim that the trial court abused its discretion in failing to direct additional inquiry into his mental competency at the close of trial, and accordingly reverse. Furthermore, based upon the trial court's violation of Rule 11(e), we direct that upon remand this case be assigned to a different judge.

I. BACKGROUND

Sanders was arrested on April 17, 1994, shortly following an incident where, according to testimony presented at trial, he robbed Teresa Jessup at gunpoint on the parking lot of a Shoney's restaurant in South Charleston, West Virginia. Ms. Jessup left the restaurant at approximately 2:30 p.m., after finishing her morning waitressing shift, and walked to a nearby car. After she was seated in the vehicle, an African-American male in dark clothing with a hood over his face opened the car door and, while holding a gun, demanded money. A shoving contest ensued, with Ms. Jessup refusing to remain seated and the masked robber attempting to force her to stay in the car. When she finally reached a standing position, the robber put the gun to Ms. Jessup's head and again demanded all of her money, stating: "Give me your money. Now. I mean it." While Ms. Jessup initially indicated that she had no money, the robber's nervousness and statement, "I know you have money because you just got off from work," eventually persuaded her to produced several one dollar bills. Ms. Jessup was never able to see the assailant's face.

The robber fled the Shoney's parking lot on foot. A retired firefighter, John Clark, was driving his pickup a short distance from the site of the robbery when he heard a police bulletin regarding the incident over his scanner radio. Approximately one and one-half blocks away from the restaurant, he spotted a man fitting the description of Ms. Jessup's robber in an alleyway, heading toward a nearby set of railroad tracks. According to Mr. Clark, the man was acting "suspicious," in that he was "looking around quite a bit." Mr. Clark drove to the Shoney's and told police about his observations. Another motorist, Lena Steele, who was driving on nearby Interstate 64, likewise heard a bulletin on her scanner radio which gave a description of the assailant and indicated that he was last seen near the railroad tracks that lay directly beneath the highway. After spotting an individual walking along I-64 that matched the description of the man wanted by police, Ms. Steele contacted authorities using her cellular phone.

Upon obtaining this information, Patrolman Larry Thomas of the South Charleston Police Department drove onto I-64 and pulled in behind a man walking beside the roadway, whom he later identified at trial as Sanders. Sanders immediately fled down the highway and then up an adjacent hillside, but halted after Patrolman Thomas drew his pistol and ordered him to stop. Sanders was found in possession of a dark sweatshirt with eye and nose holes cut out of the hood, a .22 caliber semi-automatic pistol, and several one dollar bills.

Sanders was indicted for robbery by the Kanawha County Grand Jury on June 30, 1994. Shortly prior to that date, Sanders' appointed counsel on June 2, 1994 moved for a mental status examination pursuant to W. Va.Code § 27-6A-1(a) (1983), indicating to the trial court that defendant was "delusional and unable to assist counsel." The defense motion was granted, and Sanders was subsequently examined on October 12 by Dr. Ralph Smith, M.D., a psychiatrist, and Dr. Rosemary Smith, Psy. D., a psychologist. In a report detailing their findings, these mental health professionals indicated that Sanders was acting "in a psychotic manner," as evidenced in part by delusional thinking regarding his involvement in a military "mission" to protect a Charleston chemical plant from Russian attack. The doctors further noted, however, that several tests "raise[d] a great suspicion of malingering as a sole explanation for his behavior." As a consequence, the report stated that because of the conflicting evidence at hand, no conclusive determination could be made concerning Sanders' competency to stand trial. Accordingly, it was recommended that Sanders be placed in a state mental facility for further observation.

In response to these findings, the circuit court under authority of W. Va.Code § 27-6A-1(b) ordered that Sanders be admitted to the Forensic Unit of the South Central Regional Jail for a twenty-day observation period, which was later extended pursuant to a joint motion by the State and defense counsel. Clinical evaluation at the South Central Jail was completed in mid-December 1994, with the examining psychiatrist, Dr. Daniel Thistlewaite, M.D., and psychologist, Dr. David Clayman, Ph. D., both concluding that Sanders was incompetent to stand trial based upon bipolar disease and an effectively-based psychotic disorder. It was recommended that Sanders undergo protracted treatment with antipsychotic drugs.

The circuit court subsequently determined without a hearing that Sanders was incompetent to stand trial, and, on February 1, 1995, committed him to Sharpe Hospital in Weston, West Virginia, for a six-month improvement period pursuant to W. Va.Code § 27-6A-2(b). An initial report from Sharpe Hospital dated July 12 by forensic psychologist Dr. Theodore A. Glance, Ph. D., indicated that Sanders continued to suffer from a psychotic disorder and remained incompetent to stand trial. Pursuant to Dr. Glance's recommendation, the circuit court ordered an additional three-month period of examination and treatment. By September 1995, the clinicians charged with Sanders' care reported substantial improvement in his mental condition. While continuing to diagnose Sanders as suffering from a psychotic disorder, Dr. Glance stated in his second report that

[r]eports noted in the progress notes and from the treatment team, including the psychiatrist Dr. Thomas Adamski and the various treatment team members, suggests that Mr. Sanders has improved considerably since the July, 1995 evaluation. He has been aggressively treated with medications. While he does not actively participate in programming, he is compliant and realistic in his daily behaviors. He has not been reporting thoughts which the treatment team described as delusional. No psychotic activity such as hallucinations are noted in the file by any shift worker....

Malingering has been a consideration of all previous evaluators.... Malingering remains an opinion of a few of the treatment team members. Malingering is not considered as part of this diagnosis since no[ ] symptoms were presented other than lack of memory of the alleged crime.

Based upon his finding that Sanders' psychotic disorder was being controlled by medication, Dr. Glance was of the opinion that he was able to assist counsel in mounting a defense at trial. The treating psychiatrist, Dr. Adamski, likewise concluded in a separate report that Sanders was fit to be returned for trial, and cautioned that "[o]ne must consider that he is now a veteran of the Mental Health System and that he may well malinger persecutory delusions in order to remain in the hospital." Sanders was later returned to the South Central Jail to await trial.

On December 14, 1995, the circuit court entered an agreed order authorizing Dr. Glance to enter the South Central Jail for purposes of interviewing and evaluating Sanders to determine whether he was criminally responsible for the charged offense. During a subsequent April 11, 1996 interview, Sanders became irate under questioning and threw a chair at Dr. Glance.¹ In a report issued immediately after the incident, Dr. Glance posited that the deterioration in the defendant's condition was likely caused by his refusal to comply with his medication needs. Dr. Glance further stated that Sanders' "competency to stand trial is suspect," and suggested that the defendant once more undergo a mental-status evaluation to determine whether he remained competent to stand trial. Shortly thereafter, the circuit court again committed the defendant to Sharpe Hospital, where he remained until June 1997.

Prior to Sanders' return to the regional jail, Dr. Glance issued a report on May 27, 1997, where he observed that the defendant's mental status was "dramatically different" from that observed during the April 11, 1996 chair-throwing incident. While Sanders was diagnosed as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, the circuit court was informed that the condition was in remission, and that the still-existent schizoid personality disorder suffered by Sanders did not render him incompetent to stand trial. Dr. Glance, cautioned, however, that in the event Sanders' trial were not held promptly, it was likely that his condition would "disintegrate to the...