U.S. v. Gomes
| Decision Date | 24 April 2002 |
| Docket Number | Docket No. 01-1143. |
| Citation | 289 F.3d 71 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Aaron GOMES, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Jeremiah Donovan, (Todd Kennedy, Law Student, New Haven, CT, on the brief), Old Saybrook, CT, for Defendant-Appellant.
Thomas V. Dailey, Assistant United States Attorney (John A. Danaher III, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, New Haven, CT, on the brief), Hartford, CT, for Appellee.
Jonathan E. Nuechterlein (Paul A. Engelmayer, Trevor W. Morrison, on the brief), Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, Washington, DC (Nathalie F.P. Gilfoyle, General Counsel, James L. McHugh, Senior Counsel, American Psychological Association, Washington, DC, on the brief), for Amicus Curiae American Psychological Association.
Richard G. Taranto, Farr & Taranto, Washington, DC, for Amicus Curiae American Psychiatric Association.
John L. Warden (Penny Shane, on the brief), Sullivan & Cromwell, New York, NY (Franklin B. Velie, Dierdre A. Burgman, Salans Hertzfeld Heilbronn, Christy & Viener, New York, NY, on the brief), (Gerald Walpin, David L. Wales, Rosenman & Colin, New York, NY, on the brief), for Amicus Curiae the Federal Bar Council.
William J. Rold, New York, NY, for Amicus Curiae the National Commission on Correctional Health Care.
Before: WALKER, Chief Judge, CABRANES and STRAUB, Circuit Judges.
This appeal requires us to determine the appropriate standard under which involuntary medication may be ordered to render a non-dangerous criminal defendant competent to stand trial. Defendant-appellant Aaron Gomes appeals from the February 6, 2001 order of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut (Christopher F. Droney, District Judge) authorizing Gomes's involuntary medication with antipsychotic drugs, subject to certain conditions, to render him competent to stand trial for the charged criminal conduct, and extending his commitment to the custody of the Attorney General. On appeal, Gomes challenges only that part of the district court order authorizing his involuntary medication. We vacate the order of involuntary medication and remand for further proceedings in light of the standard we have adopted.
On October 27, 1998, a federal grand jury indicted Gomes on one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(2). The indictment followed Gomes's arrest by the Hartford Police on September 30, 1998 for possession of a pistol without a permit, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of narcotics and theft of a firearm. On May 7, 1999, the government filed a notice informing the district court that because Gomes had at least three prior convictions for violent felonies or serious drug offenses, he qualified for a sentence enhancement as an Armed Career Offender under 18 U.S.C. § 924(e). With this enhancement, Gomes faces a mandatory minimum sentence of fifteen years' imprisonment.
Gomes has yet to stand trial for these charges. After the district court denied Gomes's motion to suppress evidence in April 1999, the proceedings in this case have centered on Gomes's competency to stand trial. On May 27, 1999, Gomes's own attorney first raised the issue. Citing "behavior of the defendant which casts some doubts as to defendant's competency," Gomes's counsel on June 1, 1999 sought authorization to have a psychiatrist determine Gomes's present competency and whether he was criminally insane at the time of the offense. However, Gomes refused to participate and this examination did not take place.
On June 23, 1999, the district court, on its own motion and without the benefit of expert testimony, found that there was "reasonable cause to believe that [Gomes] may presently be suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering him mentally incompetent to the extent that he may be unable to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against him and/or to assist properly in his defense." The district court ordered a competency hearing that was to be held after Gomes was examined by a psychiatrist. Once again, Gomes refused to cooperate. On October 25, 1999, the district court, absent objection, ordered that Gomes be committed, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 4247(b), to the custody of the Attorney General for placement in a suitable psychiatric facility for thirty days for examination of his mental health and competency to stand trial.
After Gomes was examined at the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri ("USMC-Springfield"), the district court scheduled a competency hearing. At the hearing, held on May 12, 2000, Gomes persisted in his refusal to participate and angrily objected to, among other things, certain witnesses who were to testify by teleconference. Gomes's efforts to obstruct the proceedings led to his removal from the courtroom. The district court proposed various measures that would have allowed Gomes to participate in the hearing from outside the courtroom, but none of these proposals were technologically feasible. Ultimately, without objection from counsel for either side, the district court held the hearing in Gomes's absence.
The government offered the testimony and written report of Dr. David Mrad, a Bureau of Prisons forensic psychologist. Dr. Mrad, who had examined Gomes at USMC-Springfield, concluded that Gomes was incompetent because, while he understood some aspects of the proceedings against him, he lacked a "rational understanding" of those proceedings and suffered from an undefined "psychotic disorder." Dr. Mrad's report cited numerous instances of Gomes's "persecutory ideas" and other delusions. Among these delusions is Gomes's insistence that the instant federal proceedings are part of a vast conspiracy against him orchestrated by the judge in a prior state court proceeding.
In a June 7, 2000 ruling, the district court found that Gomes was not competent to stand trial and ordered him committed to the custody of the Attorney General for three months to determine whether there was a substantial probability that Gomes would attain the capacity to stand trial in the foreseeable future. The district court agreed with Dr. Mrad that Gomes's persecutory delusions rendered him unable to assist in his own defense because his efforts would be directed toward uncovering the supposed "conspiracy" rather than defending against the actual charges. We affirmed the district court in an unpublished summary order dated October 2, 2000.
Upon his return to USMC-Springfield following the hearing, Gomes was examined again and prescribed antipsychotic medication. When Gomes refused to take the medication, two administrative hearings were held at USMC-Springfield, in accordance with the rules and procedures set forth at 28 C.F.R. § 549.43, to determine whether Gomes could be involuntarily medicated. The second hearing was necessary because it was unclear whether Gomes was given a copy of the report of the first hearing as required. The psychiatrists who presided at the hearings, Drs. Patrick C. Gariety and Carlos Tomelleri, concluded that antipsychotic medication was appropriate because it was the indicated treatment for Gomes's illness and other forms of treatment would not be likely to alleviate his symptoms. Gomes refused to take the prescribed antipsychotic medication.
On October 13, 2000, the government sought to have the district court supplement its earlier commitment order to extend the time of Gomes's commitment and to expressly authorize the Bureau of Prisons to medicate Gomes against his will. In a November 11, 2000 ruling and order, the district court granted the extension of time but denied authorization of involuntary medication. Because the government's interest in medicating Gomes was restoring him to competency so that he could be tried, and not the weightier interest of pacifying a dangerous detainee, the district court found that involuntary medication could not be ordered without first holding a judicial hearing.
The district court held an involuntary medication hearing on December 28, 2000. The government argued that, in determining whether to order the involuntary medication of Gomes to render him competent to stand trial, the district court should employ the same standard that was used in the administrative hearings: the government need only show by a preponderance of the evidence that (1) weighing the benefits against the risks, the medication was medically appropriate; and (2) there were no less intrusive means that would enable the government to bring the defendant to trial. In the alternative, the government argued that the involuntary medication of Gomes was authorized under the strict scrutiny standard announced by the Sixth Circuit in United States v. Brandon, 158 F.3d 947, 957 (6th Cir.1998). To prove the necessity of forcibly medicating Gomes, the government offered the testimony of Dr. James K. Wolfson, Gomes's treating psychiatrist at USMC-Springfield.
In response, Gomes contended that such involuntary medication was never warranted unless the defendant posed a danger to himself or others. Because Gomes refused to submit to a psychiatric examination, his defense was limited to his own testimony and cross-examination of the government's psychiatrist.
The district court concluded that it could order the involuntary medication of a non-dangerous defendant, but that the government must first show that the involuntary medication is "necessary to accomplish an essential government interest." The district court then listed eight factors that the government must establish by clear and...
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