U.S. v. Deters

• Decision Date: 01 May 1998
• Docket Number: No. 97-3334,97-3334
• Citation: 143 F.3d 577
• Parties: 98 CJ C.A.R. 2177 UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff--Appellee, v. Priscilla J. DETERS, Defendant--Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

Page 577

143 F.3d 577

98 CJ C.A.R. 2177

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff--Appellee, v. Priscilla J. DETERS, Defendant--Appellant.

No. 97-3334.

United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.

May 1, 1998.

Submitted on briefs: ^*

David J. Phillips, Federal Public Defender, and Steven K. Gradert, Assistant Federal Public Defender, District of Kansas, Wichita, KS, for Defendant-Appellant.

Jackie N. Williams, U.S. Attorney, and Annette B. Gurney, Assistant U.S. Attorney, Office of United States Attorney, Wichita, KS, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

Before: TACHA, McWILLIAMS, and BALDOCK, Circuit Judges.

TACHA, Circuit Judge.

The defendant, Priscilla J. Deters, was indicted on various counts of mail and wire fraud. Before trial, the defendant's counsel requested that a psychiatric examination be performed on the defendant in order to determine her mental competency to stand trial and to evaluate her degree of sanity at the time of the alleged crimes, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §§ 4241 and 4242. Although the statutory scheme allows courts to temporarily confine defendants during such psychiatric evaluations, see id. § 4247(b), the defendant asked to be examined on an outpatient basis. The court granted the defendant's motion for the mental examinations but ordered that she be taken into custody and sent to Carswell, Texas, ¹ for the purpose of those exams.

The defendant immediately appealed the commitment order on the basis that it violated the Constitution by depriving her of liberty without due process of law. ² The government urges us not to reach the merits of this appeal. According to the government, the commitment order is not a final order, and therefore we have no jurisdiction to review it at this time. The government also argues, in the alternative, that the confinement order did not violate the defendant's constitutional rights. We conclude that we do have jurisdiction over this appeal. Addressing the merits of the appeal, we conclude that there is no constitutional violation, and we affirm the order of the district court.

I. Jurisdiction

The threshold issue in this case is whether the commitment order is immediately appealable. Circuit courts, such as ours, have jurisdiction only over appeals from "final decisions" of the district courts. 28 U.S.C. § 1291. Generally, in criminal cases this rule requires that a defendant await conviction and sentencing before raising an appeal. See Flanagan v. United States, 465 U.S. 259, 263, 104 S.Ct. 1051, 1053-54, 79 L.Ed.2d 288 (1984). The policies supporting the final judgment rule include preserving respect for trial judges, reducing the ability of litigants to harass each other, and enhancing the efficient administration of justice. See id. at 264, 104 S.Ct. at 1054. Because these policies are at their strongest in the criminal context, the final judgment rule applies "with the utmost strictness in criminal cases." Id. at 265, 104 S.Ct. at 1055. Courts depart from the final judgment rule only in those few circumstances "when observance of it would practically defeat the right to any review at all." Cobbledick v. United States, 309 U.S. 323, 324-25, 60 S.Ct. 540, 541, 84 L.Ed. 783 (1940) (quoted in Flanagan, 465 U.S. at 265, 104 S.Ct. at 1054).

In Cohen v. Beneficial Industrial Loan Corp., 337 U.S. 541, 69 S.Ct. 1221, 93 L.Ed. 1528 (1949), the Supreme Court set forth the criteria that an order must meet to be appealed prior to a final judgment. Under the "collateral order" doctrine, a litigant may only seek immediate review of orders that: (1) "conclusively determine the disputed question," (2) "resolve an important issue completely separate from the merits of the action," and (3) are "effectively unreviewable on appeal from a final judgment." Coopers & Lybrand v. Livesay, 437 U.S. 463, 468, 98 S.Ct. 2454, 2458, 57 L.Ed.2d 351 (1978); see also id. at 468 n. 10, 98 S.Ct. at 2458 n. 10 (citing Cohen, 337 U.S. at 546, 69 S.Ct. at 1225).

The district court in this case ordered commitment for two purposes: to evaluate the defendant's competency to stand trial, and to determine her sanity at the time of the offense. We examine the appealability of the order separately for each of these purposes.

A. Commitment For Purposes of Section 4241 (Evaluating Competency to Stand Trial)

The order that the court issued is often referred to as a "first step" or "step-one" order in section 4241 cases, because it represents the first of a three-step system for determining the competency of a defendant to stand trial. See United States v. Barth, 28 F.3d 253, 255 (2d Cir.1994); United States v. Weissberger, 951 F.2d 392, 395-96 (D.C.Cir.1991) (describing the three-step process). The government cannot prosecute a defendant who is mentally "incompetent"--that is, "unable to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against him or to assist properly in his defense." 18 U.S.C. § 4241(a). In order to understand the question at issue in this case, it is necessary to understand the three-step system for determining competency.

At the first step, the court must decide whether there is "reasonable cause to believe that the defendant may presently be suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering him mentally incompetent...." Id. Whenever a court has reasonable cause to question the defendant's competency, it may order a psychiatric or psychological examination of the defendant. See id. § 4241(b); Weissberger, 951 F.2d at 395. The district court also has the discretion to confine a defendant during the examination period. See 18 U.S.C. § 4247(b). The statute states that "[f]or the purposes of an examination pursuant to an order under section 4241, ... the court may commit the person to be examined for a reasonable period, but not to exceed thirty days." Id. (emphasis added). The director of the facility may obtain an extension lasting no longer than fifteen days upon a showing of good cause. Id.

At step two, the court conducts a hearing and uses the psychological reports from the step-one examination to determine whether the defendant is able to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against her. If not, the defendant is incompetent to stand trial, and the court must order the defendant hospitalized for a reasonable period of time (up to four months) for the purpose of determining whether there is a "substantial probability" that the defendant will become competent in the foreseeable future. See id. § 4241(d). If the court finds that this substantial probability exists, the defendant's "step-two" confinement may be extended for an "additional reasonable period of time" to allow him to gain the capacity for trial. See id. at § 4241(d)(2).

The third step occurs at the end of the second confinement period. At this stage, the court determines whether the defendant has become competent to stand trial or, alternatively, is a long-term incompetent requiring indefinite hospitalization. See id. §§ 4241(d), 4246; United States v. Charters, 829 F.2d 479, 485 (4th Cir.1987).

In United States v. Cheama, 730 F.2d 1383 (10th Cir.1984), we held that a party could not take an immediate appeal of a step-two order. We later overruled Cheama, holding that step-two orders meet all three of Cohen 's criteria and are immediately appealable. See United States v. Boigegrain, 122 F.3d 1345, 1349 (10th Cir.1997) (en banc) (per curiam). This ruling brought our circuit into line with the majority of circuits that have decided that issue. See id. at 1348 (citing cases). At that time, however, we declined to express an opinion on the applicability of Cohen to step-one orders. See id. at 1349.

Other circuits that have addressed the appealability of step-one orders have found those immediately reviewable also. See United States v. Davis, 93 F.3d 1286, 1288-89 (6th Cir.1996); United States v. Weissberger, 951 F.2d 392, 396-97 (D.C.Cir.1991); but see United States v. Barth, 28 F.3d 253, 255-56 (2d Cir.1994). We agree that a step-one commitment order "easily satisfies the requirements of the collateral order doctrine." Davis, 93 F.3d at 1289; see also Weissberger, 951 F.2d at 396 ("[t]he District Court's decision to hold [the defendant] in confinement for up to thirty days ... easily satisfies the Cohen test for appealability as a collateral order.").

As noted above, the first prong of the Cohen test requires that the order being appealed "conclusively determine the disputed question." Coopers & Lybrand, 437 U.S. at 468, 98 S.Ct. at 2458. The government argues that the order in this case does not conclusively determine whether the defendant is competent to stand trial and therefore does not satisfy the first of the Cohen criteria. The government's position rests on a misunderstanding of the "disputed question" in this appeal. It is true, as the government suggests, that the appealed order does not conclusively determine the defendant's competency. The step-one order is merely "a preliminary step that will promptly return the matter to the District Court for an ultimate determination" on competency at step two. Barth, 28 F.3d at 255. Thus, if the issue were the defendant's competency, there would be room to argue that the order is inconclusive. ³

The defendant's competency, however, is not the disputed question in this case. In order to determine what the disputed question is, "we must examine the grounds for [the] appeal." Ortiz v. Dodge, 126 F.3d 545, 549 (3d Cir.1997). Only by identifying the precise issue being appealed can a court decide whether that issue has been conclusively determined, and, consequently, whether the second Cohen factor has been satisfied. ⁴ Here, the defendant has only one ground for appeal--namely, that her confinement during the preliminary evaluation period violated her constitutional liberty interest. Contrary to the government's characterization, the "disputed question" is not whether there were grounds to conduct a psychiatric examination, but...