U.S. v. Hoskie

• Decision Date: 06 December 1991
• Docket Number: No. 89-10348,89-10348
• Citation: 950 F.2d 1388
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Thomas HOSKIE, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 1388

950 F.2d 1388

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Thomas HOSKIE, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 89-10348.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted Dec. 11, 1990.

Decided Dec. 6, 1991.

David Lee Titterington, Deputy Federal Public Defender, Phoenix, Ariz., for defendant-appellant.

Janet L. Patterson, Asst. U.S. Atty., Phoenix, Ariz., for plaintiff-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Arizona.

Before CHOY, TANG and FLETCHER, Circuit Judges.

FLETCHER, Circuit Judge:

Thomas Hoskie asks us to reverse his convictions for assault, sexual abuse, and kidnapping. He claims that the district court erred in finding him competent to stand trial and in refusing to instruct the jury on the defense of insanity. We find clear error in the district court's determination that Hoskie was competent to stand trial and therefore reverse the conviction.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

On November 9, 1987, 17-year-old Arminda Jane Yoe accepted a ride from appellant Hoskie. At some point, Hoskie turned off the road on which they were driving, stopped the truck, and began to physically and sexually assault Arminda. Hoskie then tied his belt around her neck, led her back to the truck, and made her crouch down on the floor while he drove to a different location. At the second, more remote location, Hoskie forced Arminda to have sex with him, hitting and kicking her in the process. Hoskie also allegedly shot at Arminda. Eventually Hoskie passed out from liquor consumption and Arminda escaped, after checking Hoskie's wallet to determine his identity. Hoskie subsequently was indicted for aggravated sexual abuse in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1153 and 2241(a) and (b), kidnapping in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1153 and 1201(a)(2), assault with a deadly weapon in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1153 and 113(c), and assault resulting in serious bodily injury in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1153 and 113(f).

Hoskie filed a motion to determine competency to stand trial pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 4241(a). A magistrate conducted the first competency hearing on September 22, 1988. The principal witnesses were Dr. Tatro, a psychologist who had examined Hoskie on behalf of the defense, and Dr. Grossman, a government psychologist. Officer Bluehouse of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, who had arrested Hoskie and participated in the investigation, and Hoskie's mother also testified. The two psychologists agreed that Hoskie was mildly mentally retarded (both recorded IQ scores on various examinations of approximately 62-65) and suffered from alcoholism and a dependent personality disorder. Both agreed that Hoskie cooperated in testing and that he was not feigning lack of intelligence or manipulating the evaluator. ¹ The psychologists differed, however, in their ultimate opinions of Hoskie's competence to stand trial. The magistrate summarized their views as follows in his questioning of Dr. Tatro:

[I]t seems to me that really your evaluations, the two of you, are basically the same in terms of what's wrong with him; there's no psychosis involved, it's a mental defect; it's a mild mental retardation with alcoholism involved. And Doctor Grossman also believes that it seems like the defendant doesn't really understand the proceedings at this time.... The basic difference appears to be that he thinks with some help the defendant could understand the proceedings and assist counsel and you think with some help he couldn't ...

Dr. Tatro concurred with the magistrate's summary.

The magistrate concluded in a written order filed September 27, 1988, that Hoskie was "minimally able to understand the proceedings against him, and the consequences thereof, as well as to assist properly in his defense." Accordingly, the magistrate found Hoskie competent to stand trial "with some effort and with the assistance of an interpreter." The magistrate noted, however, that "defendant is extremely limited in his ability to conceptualize and virtually incapable of thinking in abstract terms" and characterized the degree to which Hoskie understood court proceedings as "extremely limited."

On November 1, 1988, Hoskie renewed his motion to determine his competency to stand trial and filed a notice that he intended to present an insanity defense. The district court conducted a second competency hearing, at which Hoskie and the Navajo interpreter testified. The parties agreed to rely on the earlier testimony of the psychologists before the magistrate rather than having them testify again. At the hearing the district court expressed a concern that essentially went to Hoskie's danger to the community, not his competence to stand trial. The court stated that even if Hoskie might not understand the proceedings, he would understand "how to get home, ... how to get to Gallup, ... how to borrow money, ... how to get alcohol, ... how to get drunk and ... how to assault somebody else. He may not know a lot of the other sophisticated things that the Government says he has to do, but he knows all those things...." The district court did elicit from the government an acknowledgment that there "are difficulties insofar as the record is concerned regarding Mr. Hoskie's competency to ... understand all the sophistications of where we are." Ultimately, however, the district court found Hoskie competent to stand trial. ² The court did appoint a second, Navajo-speaking attorney to assist in Hoskie's representation.

The district court continued to manifest concern about Hoskie's competence at several points during subsequent pretrial and trial proceedings. During pretrial discussions, the district court asked the Navajo attorney about his ability to communicate effectively with Hoskie. Counsel indicated that he had "had difficulty trying to get him to understand the proceedings against him," that Hoskie could understand concepts carefully explained to him "basically for a very short duration," and that "it [was] very hard to work with [Hoskie] to even try to prepare the case." R.T. 12. During the same proceeding, the district court raised the possibility of having Hoskie committed and indicated its view that "common sense tells us that perhaps that is what we should be doing here now." R.T. 21.

At the outset of trial, defense counsel renewed the motion to find Hoskie incompetent. Counsel informed the district court that when they sat down to prepare Hoskie for trial he responded, "I thought that already happened, already, that is why I am in jail." R.T. 159. The court noted that because Hoskie had blacked out due to intoxication and denied having any recollection of the event, it had "difficulty in understanding, [even] if Mr. Hoskie was a Rhodes scholar with that problem, how he could do anything to assist counsel." R.T. 160-61. The court also indicated from its own observations of Hoskie in court that "if nothing else, Mr. Hoskie has an awareness of where he is and the kind of thing that is occurring." R.T. 162. Again, the court referred to commitment and suggested that that might be the appropriate outcome:

[I]f there is sufficient concern about Mr. Hoskie's condition, that we are going to have an appeal, someone is going to have to look at it on an appeal and when all is said and done, Mr. Hoskie is going to go away under the [commitment] procedures that we talked about yesterday.

In some ways, it seems like that ought to happen. I think, in my own judgment, looking at Mr. Hoskie's record, that he is a danger to other people. And that he is perfectly capable, as demonstrated by his past record, to go back on the reservation with the mental acuity that he does have, he's going to drive his vehicle, he's going to pawn something, he's going to get alcohol, he's going to get in a group or individually and he is either going to kill somebody on the highway or he's going to assault them or try and rape them. So that is the bottom line.

R.T. 165-66. When defense counsel pointed out that Hoskie's dangerousness was "secondary to the issue we are talking about, which is whether [Hoskie] is competent or not," and that the court must "decide the competence issue first" before dangerousness comes into play, the court responded: "I am suggesting now, for instance, despite the Government's position, despite what I have said, the Government might very well want to look at some kind of an agreement with defense counsel to put Mr. Hoskie on a different track." R.T. 166. Ultimately, however, the district court denied Hoskie's renewed motion to be determined incompetent "without prejudice to its being renewed at other times." R.T. 168.

The case proceeded to trial. Hoskie did not challenge the basic facts alleged, but proffered an insanity defense and argued that his mental defects prevented him from forming the requisite mens rea for the crimes. Despite the fact that both the defense and prosecution focused entirely on issues of Hoskie's comprehension and daily functioning, the district court denied an insanity instruction, finding that it was not sufficiently supported by the evidence. The jury convicted Hoskie of all counts except the assault with a deadly weapon charge, of which he was acquitted.

At the sentencing hearing, the district court again indicated a view that perhaps the commitment process was more appropriate to the situation, and that concerns regarding Hoskie's dangerousness had been a motivating force behind its decisionmaking:

Well, it is difficult, as you say, certainly to really know Mr. Hoskie's awareness about the events.

I confess that throughout the time that Mr. Hoskie has been with me, I have ... observed different demeanors on occasion.

As he stands here today he looks like he did during the trial, and I think I noted, perhaps not on the record, when the case was over and he walked out, he looked like an entirely different person. His head was up, he talked to somebody and he walked out.

One of the...