State v. Willard

• Decision Date: 10 May 1977
• Docket Number: No. 34,34
• Citation: 234 S.E.2d 587,292 N.C. 567
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. Bobby Lee WILLARD.

Page 587

234 S.E.2d 587

292 N.C. 567

STATE of North Carolina v. Bobby Lee WILLARD.

No. 34.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

May 10, 1977.

Atty. Gen. Rufus L. Edmisten by Asst. Atty. Gen. James Wallace, Jr., Raleigh, for the State.

James L. Dellinger, Jr., King, for defendant-appellant.

COPELAND, Justice.

Defendant first contends the court erred when it allowed Sheriff Blalock at the pretrial hearing on defendant's motion to express a personal opinion as to why defendant's mental condition had changed.

The record of the hearing discloses the following testimony by Sheriff Blalock on direct examination:

"When Bobby came back from the hospital the first time back in November, the jailer let him out on different occasions to do small jobs around the jail and he appeared to be a normal prisoner. The unusual something came up right before the last term or right after the last term of Superior Court. That is when I noticed a change in Bobby. There was a change in Bobby's attitude. He started sort of rambling in his talk rather than talking about specific things. I might add that at the time that we had Superior Court we had several prisoners here from Central Prison as we have at this time and my own personal feeling is "

"MR. DELLINGER: Objection.

"COURT: Overruled.

"A. It is my feeling and my observation that these people talked a lot to Bobby and I feel that is one reason why he changed.

"MR. DELLINGER: Objection.

"COURT: Overruled."

A layman who has had a reasonable opportunity to form an opinion based on observation may testify as to the mental capacity of a defendant in a criminal case. State v. Hammonds, 290 N.C. 1, 224 S.E.2d 595 (1976); 1 Stansbury's N.C. Evidence, § 127 (Brandis Rev.1973); see State v. Thompson, 285 N.C. 181, 203 S.E.2d 781 (1974). Assuming, arguendo, that a lay opinion as to the cause of a change in a defendant's mental state would nevertheless be incompetent, then the latter portion of Sheriff Blalock's testimony would be objectionable. However, we assume that when the court is the trier of fact, as is generally true on a pretrial motion, it will not consider incompetent evidence. Brown v. Boger, 263 N.C. 248, 139 S.E.2d 577 (1965); Bizzell v. Bizzell, 247 N.C. 590, 101 S.E.2d 668 (1958).

In a " 'hearing was before the judge on a preliminary motion, the ordinary rules as to the competency of evidence applied in a trial before a jury are to some extent relaxed, for the reason that the judge with knowledge of the law is able to eliminate from the testimony he hears that which is immaterial and incompetent, and consider only that which tends properly to prove the facts to be found.' (Citations omitted.)" State v. Davis, 290 N.C. 511, 540, 227 S.E.2d 97, 115 (1976). Absent affirmative evidence to the contrary, this Court presumes that the trial judge disregarded incompetent evidence in arriving at his decision. State v. Davis, supra; Bizzell v. Bizzell, supra.

With respect to the challenged testimony in the instant case Judge Walker made the following finding of fact "That he (Sheriff Blalock) did however notice recently a change in the defendant after he had been placed with several persons from either Central Prison or the Department of Correction System, inmates from the Department of Correction, and that the defendant had started rambling in his talk."

This finding was based solely on Sheriff Blalock's competent testimony. The trial court properly ignored the Sheriff's arguably incompetent statement of opinion which had earlier been admitted over defendant's objection. We note, however, that the safer practice is for the trial judge to adhere to the rules of evidence at a hearing on a pretrial motion. State v. Davis, supra. But where, as here, it does not affirmatively appear that the trial judge based his findings on the incompetent evidence the assignment of error will be overruled.

In his next two assignments of error, defendant contends the trial court erred in finding that he was mentally capable of standing trial.

The test of a defendant's mental capacity to proceed to trial is whether he has the capacity to comprehend his position, to understand the nature and object of the proceedings against him, to conduct his defense in a rational manner, and to cooperate with his counsel to the end that any available defense may be interposed. State v. Cooper, 286 N.C. 549, 213 S.E.2d 305 (1975); State v. Jones, 278 N.C. 259, 179 S.E.2d 433 (1971); State v. Propst, 274 N.C. 62, 161 S.E.2d 560 (1968); State v. Sullivan, 229 N.C. 251, 49 S.E.2d 458 (1948); 4 Strong's N.C. Index 3d, Criminal Law § 29 (1976). The issue may be determined by the trial court with or without the aid of a jury. State v. Cooper, supra; State v. Propst, supra; State v. Sullivan, supra. When the trial judge conducts the inquiry without a jury, the court's findings of fact, if supported by competent evidence, are conclusive on appeal. State v. Cooper, supra; see State v. Thompson, supra.

Defendant assails the court's conclusion that he was capable of standing trial because at the hearing on the motion (1) the most recent expert medical evidence indicated the defendant was mentally incapable of standing trial and (2) uncontradicted medical evidence showed the defendant suffered from amnesia regarding the events of the crime.

The trial court's findings and conclusions as to the defendant's capacity to stand trial were supported by (1) defendant's score of 26 on the Competency Screening Test in November 1975, which was well within the range of competency to stand trial according to standards established by the National Institute of Mental Health; (2) Dr. James Groce's expert opinion that when he examined the defendant in November 1975, defendant was competent to stand trial; (3) the testimony of Sheriff Blalock, who observed the defendant in jail from the time of his arrest until trial (except for the periods he was at Dorothea Dix Hospital), which indicated that defendant was a normal prisoner and carried on normal conversations until recently when he started "rambling in his talk" after he had been placed with some prisoners from Central Prison.

Dr. Groce's examination of defendant preceded Dr. Royal's examination by some nine months. Dr. Groce admitted he could not agree or disagree with Dr. Royal's opinions because they were based on data and a time period unavailable to him, and further admitted that defendant's competency could have changed since his examination. We would be inclined to agree with the defendant that the test data and Dr. Groce's examination were too remote in time to support the trial court's conclusion on defendant's competency to stand trial in light of Dr. Royal's examination but for Sheriff Blalock's observation that defendant's personality changed only after he was placed with other prisoners.

The trial court could reasonably have believed from all the evidence that the defendant decided, after coming in contact with other prisoners, that it was to his advantage to feign the auditory hallucinations and delusions which led to Dr. Royal's diagnosis of simple schizophrenia. It appears from the record that simple schizophrenia, combined with defendant's mild mental retardation and amnesia, were the basis for Dr. Royal's opinion that the defendant was incompetent to stand trial. Dr. Royal testified that schizophrenia, simple type, is a disease that comes on "insidiously or slowly so there is not an acute sudden onset." (Emphasis supplied.) By contrast, Sheriff Blalock's testimony disclosed a sudden change in the defendant's personality. Dr. Royal also admitted that it was possible for defendant to fake the hallucinations. Under these circumstances, we think Judge Walker's findings and conclusions are sufficiently supported by the evidence and therefore, are conclusive on appeal. State v. Cooper, supra.

Defendant's alleged amnesia concerning the events of the crime would not prevent him from comprehending his position and understanding the nature and object of the proceedings against him. Nor would his partial amnesia prevent him from conducting his defense in a rational manner or cooperating with his counsel in presenting any available defenses. Obviously if defendant is unable to recall the events of the crime, his available defenses may be limited. We do not believe this fact alone renders him incompetent to stand trial or denies him a fair trial in view of the fact that the State has the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the crime charged was committed and that the defendant was the perpetrator. The general rule in other jurisdictions, which we adopt, is that amnesia does not per se render a defendant incapable of standing trial or of receiving a fair trial. Annot., 46 A.L.R.3d 544, 553 (1972). See, e. g., State v. McClendon, 103 Ariz. 105, 437 P.2d 421 (1968); State v. Pugh, 117 N.J.Super. 26, 283 A.2d 537 (1971), cert. denied, 60 N.J. 22, 285 A.2d 563 (1972); Cummins v. Price, 421 Pa. 396, 218 A.2d 758, cert. denied, 385 U.S. 869, 87 S.Ct. 136, 17 L.Ed.2d 96 (1966). Partial amnesia places a defendant in no worse a position than the defendant who cannot remember where he was on a particular day because of the passage of time, or because he was insane, very intoxicated, completely drugged, or unconscious at the time. Cummins v. Price, supra. In each of these cases, the defendant's available defenses may be limited or impaired because of his present inability to reconstruct a past period of his life.

In deciding this same issue, the Arizona Supreme Court noted that, "amnesia 'is nothing more than a failure of memory concerning facts or events to which an individual has been exposed' and that 'every individual's memory process is marked by some distortion which may occur at any point' and 'as a result, no one's memory is in fact complete, even under ideal conditions . . . every one is amnesic to some degree.' (Emphasis supplied.) 71 Yale Law J. 109-111 (196...