State v. Sayidin

• Decision Date: 27 March 2023
• Docket Number: 83472-0-I
• Parties: STATE OF WASHINGTON, Respondent, v. MAHAMAD SAYIDIN, Appellant.
• Court: Washington Court of Appeals

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STATE OF WASHINGTON, Respondent, v. MAHAMAD SAYIDIN, Appellant.

No. 83472-0-I

Court of Appeals of Washington, Division 1

March 27, 2023

UNPUBLISHED OPINION

ANDRUS, C.J.

Mahamad Sayidin appeals his conviction for first degree robbery arising from an incident in which he attacked and robbed a stranger in a wheelchair. He argues that the trial court violated his constitutional rights to testify and attend trial when it removed him from the courtroom on multiple occasions during the proceedings. We conclude that Sayidin knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waived his right to be present and to testify either by affirmatively refusing to attend his trial or by engaging in behavior so disruptive as to prevent his trial from proceeding. We affirm his conviction.

FACTS

On the evening of April 9, 2016, Ruth Larson took the bus to downtown Seattle to attend a Mariners game at Safeco Field. When Larson, who uses a wheelchair, stopped near the field Mahamad Sayidin approached her and asked for a cigarette. After Larson gave Sayidin one of her cigarettes, he pulled Larson out of her wheelchair and began to hit her in the face repeatedly and then grabbed her belongings. Sayidin dragged her across the sidewalk and pressed his forearm against her neck before taking off with Larson's backpack. Larson followed Sayidin while yelling for help. After two blocks, Sayidin sat down at a bus stop and began going through Larson's backpack. The police arrived soon after and arrested Sayidin. On April 13, 2016 the State charged Sayidin with first degree robbery of Larson and fourth degree assault of a bystander.^[1]

Between 2016 and August 2021, Sayidin went from the King County Jail to Western State Hospital (Western) at least six times. On May 26, 2016, Sayidin's defense counsel requested the first of many competency evaluations and the trial court granted the request. After a court-ordered competency evaluation at Western, the court held a hearing on June 23 2016 to address the resulting report. Sayidin refused to come to court. The State asked the trial court for a reasonable use of force order (or drag order) to bring Sayidin to court and defense counsel deferred to the court, stating "[t]his has happened before." The trial court granted the State's request and entered a finding that Sayidin was competent to stand trial.

At a November 14, 2016 hearing on the State's motion to continue trial, defense counsel raised the issue of competency again, arguing that, during the previous months, Sayidin had experienced "a substantial decline in his ability to assist counsel" and "[t]here are also some very concerning behavior[s] in the jail with respect to actions that lead me to believe that . . . a second competency evaluation is necessary." The trial court stated that its impression was "that the defendant is aware of these proceedings," but agreed to order another competency evaluation to occur in the King County Jail. On December 8, 2016, the parties stipulated to modifying the order to require that the evaluation occur at Western because Sayidin had attempted to harm himself in the jail and the evaluator believed an in-patient evaluation was necessary for Sayidin's health and safety.

On January 30, 2017, the trial court summarized the results of the second evaluation. The evaluator diagnosed Sayidin as suffering from schizophrenia or another psychotic disorder and a substance use disorder, and concluded that "while Mr. Sayidin may have a factual understanding of court proceedings, he really is not able to assist his attorney with a reasonable degree of understanding or competence." Based on this report, the court found Sayidin not competent to stand trial and ordered that he be transported to Western for 90 days of competency restoration.

After returning from Western, Sayidin continued to refuse to speak with defense counsel or allow himself to be interviewed by a defense expert in order for counsel to contest competency. At a September 14, 2017 hearing, counsel reported that Sayidin had decompensated and was refusing to meet with the defense expert. The State contended that the Western evaluator believed that "elements of Mr. Sayidin's presentation . . . appear feigned, there are elements of Mr. Sayidin's presentation that appear rooted in personality disorder traits as opposed to treatable mental illness." The court set a date for a status conference and a competency evidentiary hearing.

At the scheduled status conference on September 22, 2017, Sayidin refused to be transported to court. The State notified the court that it had filed new charges against Sayidin, alleging custodial assault after Sayidin threw feces on a nurse who was giving him medication. The trial court continued the hearing to September 27, 2017 and entered a drag order to force Sayidin's appearance for that hearing.

When he appeared for that hearing, Sayidin immediately interrupted proceedings, repeatedly saying that the individuals present in court were all "f---in' UFOs." The court warned Sayidin that he would be removed if he could not be quiet and Sayidin responded "I don't want to stay here. F--- this place." The court attempted to speak directly with Sayidin to confirm that he wanted to leave the courtroom, but Sayidin continued to use profane epithets and did not respond to the court's question. The court ordered officers to remove Sayidin from the courtroom and ordered that he undergo a third in-patient competency evaluation at Western.

This pattern repeated itself over the next four years, during which time the State filed more custodial assault charges against Sayidin and the trial court ordered several more competency evaluations. The court found Sayidin incompetent to stand trial in April 2018 and November 2018. The court found him competent in October 2018, May 2019, August 2020, and December 2020.

Sayidin refused to appear at many of the competency or pretrial hearings and, when he did appear, either voluntarily or via a drag order, the trial court frequently had to have him removed for disrupting the proceedings. On some of these occasions, Sayidin expressed his desire to leave the proceedings willingly.

At a May 24, 2019 hearing, for instance, the court explained:

Mr. Sayidin was very agitated this morning. He was making gestures with his hands that required the jail officers to put him in handcuffs. His temper was up. His voice was elevated. The record can speak for itself. He was using profanities in court. And I asked him if he wanted to stay. He was somewhat tangential in his response, but ultimately decided he did not want to be here for the hearing. I'm going to just make a finding that he made a knowing, intelligent, and voluntary waiver of his presence.

At a June 2019 hearing, Sayidin was again disruptive, speaking over the court and refusing to remain quiet when asked to do so. The court warned Sayidin that if he was not quiet, "you might have to watch your trial remotely." Sayidin responded, "I'm keep talking, no problem. No problem at all." The court had to have Sayidin removed because he was talking so loudly that the court could not hear counsel. The court noted for the record that:

Mr. Sayidin came in today in a suicide smock and a spit mask. There were six jail officers. He remained restrained. This was based on my order given information that I had received in advance of this hearing. My conclusion was that Mr. Sayidin presented a security risk to the courtroom and courtroom participants. I discussed this with Sergeant Maude, who is in the courtroom this morning.

Sergeant Maude, an officer with the Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention (DAJD), reported to the court that Sayidin had a history of assaulting jail staff and had been charged with two custodial assaults involving eight victims. The court noted that "virtually every time he's appeared in court, he's been in a suicide smock, he has used foul language. He's always agitated." Sayidin's counsel confirmed that in meeting with his client, "he has always been in a suicide smock. That has been a constant. He's never been out of one." Sayidin exhibited similar behavior at an August 2020 hearing and the court ordered the officers to remove him.

At a November 2020 hearing, Sayidin was escorted into the courtroom for a hearing and immediately asserted, loudly that "I'll speak out for myself." Despite warnings from the court to keep his voice down, Sayidin continued to yell. Again, the court made a record of the events leading to Sayidin's removal:

So Mr. Sayidin has been removed from court. I instructed the jail officers to remove him. I'm going to make a finding that Mr. Sayidin has voluntarily absented himself from this proceeding. . . . I've observed this a couple of times with Mr. Sayidin. He's actually-so he's walking in and I'm watching him. And he's actually quite quiet. He's not causing any problems. He's actually quiet all the way when he comes in. Then he's quiet just standing there. But as soon as I speak, counsel speaks, then he starts speaking in a very disruptive way. The record should reflect also, and it probably is going to be hard to hear, as I've done in the past with Mr. Sayidin, I've actually ordered him on a couple of occasions to keep his voice down so that we can get through the hearing. But, of course, he chose not to. I in fact gave him a last warning, and he chose not to stop talking.

At a December 16, 2020 hearing, Sergeant Maude asked that the court permit the escorting officers to keep Sayidin in restraints while he was in the courtroom. He based the request on the fact that Sayidin had by then committed 10 assaults against inmates and 4 assaults against jail staff while in custody and had a history of engaging in...