U.S. v. Clark, s. 88-5995

• Decision Date: 07 February 1990
• Docket Number: 89-5476,Nos. 88-5995,s. 88-5995
• Citation: 893 F.2d 1277
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Robert Dean CLARK, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eleventh Circuit

Page 1277

893 F.2d 1277

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Robert Dean CLARK, Defendant-Appellant.

Nos. 88-5995, 89-5476.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

Feb. 7, 1990.

Stewart G. Abrams, Asst. Federal Public Defender, Miami, Fla., for defendant-appellant.

Dexter W. Lehtinen, U.S. Atty., Anthony Sanchez, Linda C. Hertz, Lynne W. Lamprecht, Asst. U.S. Attys., Miami, Fla., for plaintiff-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Before FAY and KRAVITCH, Circuit Judges, and LYNNE ^*, Senior District Judge.

FAY, Circuit Judge:

Appellant Robert Dean Clark was adjudicated not guilty only by reason of insanity of attempted murder charges. Subsequently, the court held a hearing to determine if Clark's release would create a danger to persons or property. Having discounted the testimony introduced at this hearing, the court ordered re-examinations of Clark, the results of which were to be presented at a later hearing. After hearing the results of the latter examinations, the district court found that Clark was dangerous and committed him to the custody of the Attorney General pursuant to 18 U.S.C. section 4243 (Supp. V 1987). Clark challenges the district court's actions. Clark asserts that the evidence presented at his initial dangerousness hearing clearly and convincingly established that his release would not have created a substantial risk of bodily injury to another person or serious damage to the property of another because of a present mental disease or defect. He argues that the district court therefore abused its discretion when it ordered Clark to be committed after the initial hearing so that additional opinions regarding his dangerousness could be rendered. Clark contends further that the district court abused its discretion when it utilized the additional information to arrive at its final dangerousness determination. Finally, Clark argues that by ordering the additional evaluations, the trial court implicitly found that Clark was entitled to release. We reject appellant's arguments and AFFIRM the district court's orders.

BACKGROUND

On February 16, 1988, appellant Robert Dean Clark with his pocket knife slit the throat of a fellow passenger on an international airline flight en route from Panama City, Panama, to Miami, Florida. Appellant was arrested and subsequently indicted on February 25, 1988, for attempted murder in violation of 49 U.S.C.App. section 1472(k) (Supp. V 1987) and 18 U.S.C. section 1113 (1982) while within the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States as defined by 49 U.S.C.App. section 1301(38) (1982 & Supp. V 1987). On March 4, 1988, appellant filed a notice of intent to rely upon the defense of insanity. After reviewing evaluations by Drs. Lloyd Miller and Sanford Jacobson, the court determined that Clark was competent to stand trial, but, recognizing that appellant would raise the issue of insanity at trial, committed Clark to the custody of the Attorney General pursuant to 18 U.S.C. section 4247(b) (Supp. V 1987). The court ordered the Attorney General to arrange for psychiatric examinations to determine whether Clark was insane at the time he committed the charged offense. On June 7, 1988, the court again found Clark competent to stand trial based on a supplemental evaluation prepared by Drs. James Leach and David Reuterfors, who concluded that although Clark was competent to stand trial, he was unable to appreciate the nature and quality or the wrongfulness of his acts. After a bench trial on stipulated facts, Clark was adjudicated not guilty only by reason of insanity on June 9, 1988.

Following trial, in response to a joint motion, the district court ordered a psychiatric examination of Clark by Dr. Lloyd Miller to determine if he would "create a substantial risk of bodily injury to another person or serious damage of property of another due to a present mental disease or defect." R1-15 (No. 88-5995). Additionally, the court granted appellant's unopposed motion for an order directing Drs. Leach and Reuterfors to conduct a study of After reexamining Clark, Dr. Miller concluded that Clark was suffering from symptoms of a paranoid disorder. Therefore, although he determined that appellant was not at that time dangerous to himself or others, he recommended placement of appellant in a psychiatric halfway house or a federal halfway house. He warned that Clark's mental condition could deteriorate at an indeterminate time, thereby creating a risk of danger to himself and others.

                Clark's "dangerousness."    R1-18 (No. 88-5995).  Both reports were filed with the court
                

In their evaluation of Clark, Drs. Leach and Reuterfors determined that Clark, at the time of the examination, did not suffer from a severe mental disease or defect and concluded that Clark did not present a danger to others or to the property of others. R1-22-3 (No. 88-5995). In their report, they stated that Clark was "felt to have suffered an acute psychotic break, possibly involuntarily induced by chemical substances, at the time of the offense." Id. This conclusion evidently was derived from the symptoms Clark exhibited and from Clark's statements that he had involuntarily received a dose of drugs at some point before or during his flight. R1-21-46, 49-50, 55-56. ¹

The court held the dangerousness hearing pursuant to 18 U.S.C. section 4243(c). The trial judge considered the report and depositions of Drs. Leach and Reuterfors as well as the report and live testimony of Dr. Miller and the testimony of Dr. Mary Frenzel ² in reaching his conclusion. Dr. Frenzel's testimony paralleled the reports of Drs. Leach and Reuterfors. Her opinion was that Clark was not suffering from a mental disease or defect at the time she examined him and that the offense with which he was charged resulted from either a stress-related or drug-induced psychosis. Thus, she concluded that Clark was not a dangerous individual. Dr. Miller's testimony was consistent with his report. He testified that Clark suffered from a mental disease or defect, a paranoid disorder, and rejected the theory that Clark was suffering from a drug-induced psychosis. He concluded that Clark was not dangerous, but suggested that the court should place Clark in a halfway house so that his progress or regression could be monitored. At the conclusion of the hearing, the court disparaged the conclusions reached by Drs. Leach, Reuterfors and Frenzel and while questioning Dr. Miller's conclusion that Clark would not present a danger, attempted to locate a suitable facility in accordance with his recommendations. However, the court was unable to locate an amenable facility other than the Federal Correctional Institute at Butner, North Carolina and thus ordered commitment to that facility so that further examinations could be conducted:

[T]he unexplained behavior of the defendant evidencing a total psychotic disorder continues to be exceedingly troubling to this court.

The Probation Office's efforts to secure the type of meaningful supervision contemplated by Dr. Miller's recommendation in a restricted environment appears to the Court to be unavailable outside of the facility to which the defendant Hinckley was placed for observation after his attempted assassination of President Reagan.

It is, therefore, the view of this Court that it desires that additional observation be made of the defendant at the Federal Correctional Institute at Butner, North Carolina, for a follow-up evaluation. This is ordered because the Court has already had the benefit of whatever It is, therefore, the Order of this Court that the defendant be committed to the custody of the Attorney General of the United States pursuant to the provisions of Title 18, United States Code, Section 4243 and to be transported ... to the Federal Correctional Institute at Butner, North Carolina at such time as they have available facilities and for the defendant to remain there for a period of not less than ninety (90) days nor more than one hundred eighty days (180) for a complete study and analysis to be made....

study can be done at the Medical Center for federal prisoners at Springfield, Missouri.

Upon completion of that report, this Court will continue the hearing heretofore held and will make the determination required of this Court pursuant to Title 18, United States Code, Section 4243.

R1-28-4-5 (No. 88-5995).

Subsequent to the court's directive, appellant filed the first of these consolidated appeals. Appellant addressed two issues: first, whether this court can assume jurisdiction, since the district court continued the dangerousness hearing until receipt of the Butner opinions; ³ and second, whether the district court abused its discretion by ordering the additional examinations. After oral argument, while the first appeal was pending in this court, the district court requested a remand to determine conclusively the dangerousness issue, as the additional evaluations that the court had ordered had been completed. The request was granted. Thereafter, the district court conducted a hearing to consider all of the evidence pertaining to whether the release of Clark would create a substantial risk of bodily injury to another person or serious damage to property of another because of a present mental disease or defect. The court found that Clark indeed presented a danger to other people and property and ordered that he be committed to the custody of the Attorney General pursuant to the provisions of 18 U.S.C. section 4243, with a recommendation that he be placed in the Federal Correctional Institute at Butner, North Carolina.

Appellant timely filed the second of these consolidated appeals asserting error in the district court's decision to commit him to the custody of the Attorney General. Appellant advanced two arguments: first, appellant asserted that the district court abused its discretion in having...