U.S. v. Murphy

• Decision Date: 04 March 1997
• Docket Number: No. 95-5747,95-5747
• Citation: 107 F.3d 1199
• Parties: 46 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 772 UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Calvin B. MURPHY, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

Page 1199

107 F.3d 1199

46 Fed. R. Evid. Serv. 772

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Calvin B. MURPHY, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 95-5747.

United States Court of Appeals Sixth Circuit.

Argued May 14, 1996.

Decided March 4, 1997.

Tracy L. Berry, Asst. U.S. Attorney (argued and briefed), Memphis, TN, for plaintiff-appellee.

April R. Ferguson (argued and briefed), Office of Federal Public Defender, Memphis, TN, for defendant-appellant.

Before: NORRIS and DAUGHTREY, Circuit Judges; HILLMAN, District Judge. ^*

HILLMAN, D.J., delivered the opinion of the court, in which DAUGHTREY, J., joined. NORRIS, J. (pp. 1212-13), delivered a separate dissenting opinion.

HILLMAN, District Judge.

Appellant Calvin B. Murphy ("Murphy") appeals the convictions and sentence arising out of his prosecution as a convicted felon in possession of a firearm and of ammunition in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). We affirm the convictions, but remand the case for resentencing.

I.

At approximately 3:00 a.m. on July 15, 1993, Memphis police officers Terrance Jackson and Robert Covington responded to a call about a suspicious vehicle in northwest Memphis. The officers found a brown LTD parked in a driveway with its lights out and the engine running. As they approached, the driver sped away from the scene. Jackson and Covington pursued the vehicle, but lost sight of it. A few minutes later, the officers heard a crash a short distance away. When they arrived at the crash scene they found the brown LTD had been driven through a chain link fence and into a studio apartment.

The officers got out of their cruiser. As they approached the wrecked car, the driver jumped out and ran into an apartment complex. The officers chased the driver for about five minutes but he evaded them. As he was running away, both officers got a good look at him and were able to give a description. At trial, both officers identified appellant Calvin Murphy as the driver of the vehicle.

While chasing the driver, Jackson and Covington called for assistance. A number of Memphis police officers arrived shortly, including Richard Wehby. After losing sight of the driver, Jackson and Covington returned to the LTD and took an inventory of its contents. On the seat next to where the driver had been sitting, they found a .38 caliber revolver and a blue knit ski mask.

Memphis police checked the registration of the car and found it was registered to Delores Murphy, defendant's mother, who lived a short distance from the accident scene. Officer Wehby volunteered to go to Delores Murphy's home because it was located in his district. At about the same time the vehicle registration was confirmed, Mrs. Murphy herself called the police to report the car stolen.

When Wehby arrived at her home, Delores Murphy told him that her son, defendant Murphy, had awakened her a short time before, informed her that her car had been stolen, and thereafter left the house. The police asked Mrs. Murphy to call them when her son returned.

When defendant Murphy returned, his mother called the police. Wehby proceeded to Delores Murphy's home where he arrested defendant and escorted him to his cruiser. Murphy was placed in the rear of the vehicle to await identification by officers Jackson and Covington. Wehby testified that he did not question defendant, but answered defendant's question concerning why he was being arrested. Wehby testified that after he had placed defendant in the car, defendant voluntarily stated that he had been driving the car and that he did not possess a driver's license.

Officers Jackson and Covington arrived within a matter of minutes. The officers testified that as they got out of their cruisers and approached the police vehicle in which Murphy was seated, they saw Murphy gesticulating and heard him yelling. They testified that no one else was in the vehicle. When the officers opened the door to get a good look at defendant, Murphy spontaneously bragged about having evaded the police. He stated that he knew nothing about the gun and ski mask, though neither officer had mentioned finding those objects.

Delores Murphy subsequently identified both the car and the handgun as hers. At trial, she testified that she stored her handgun under her bed and that her aunt and various nephews had access to her room in her absence. On cross-examination, Delores Murphy admitted that she may have told officers at the time of the arrest that only she and her son knew where the gun was kept. She also admitted on cross-examination that she originally told officer Wehby that she presumed her son had been driving her car on the night of the accident, rather than some other individual.

On February 23, 1994, defendant-appellant was indicted on two counts of being a felon in possession of a handgun and of ammunition, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). He was convicted on both counts on February 14, 1995, following a jury trial. On May 12, 1995, he was sentenced to a term of incarceration of 24 years and five months.

II.

On appeal, Murphy raises six claims of error. First, he contends that the district court committed clear error when it concluded that he was competent to stand trial. Second, he claims that the court erred in denying his motion to suppress the statements he made to officers Jackson and Covington. Third, he asserts that the district court improperly admitted evidence of the ski mask under Fed.R.Evid. 404(b). Fourth, he claims that insufficient evidence was presented to demonstrate his possession of the firearm. Fifth, he contends that the district court erred in designating him an armed career criminal pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 924(e) and U.S.S.G. § 4B1.4. Finally, he alleges that the statute under which he was convicted was unconstitutional both on its face and as applied because of an insufficient connection with interstate commerce.

We address each claim in turn.

A. Competency to Stand Trial

Before trial, defendant filed a motion for psychiatric examination. Defendant's attorney advised the court that Murphy reported hearing voices, a circumstance that appeared to be interfering with the attorney's representation of her client. She also reported that her client appeared to have difficulty fully understanding her advice. As a result, she advised the court that she had concerns about defendant's competency to stand trial.

The district court ordered a psychiatric examination. The examining forensic psychiatrists, Dr. Thomas Kucharski and Dr. Leslie Knutson, concluded that defendant was competent to stand trial. They further reported that defendant's description of auditory hallucinations was not consistent with true auditory hallucinations. It was their conclusion that the false description of auditory hallucinations, together with other test results, strongly suggested that defendant was fabricating mental illness.

The doctors further noted that defendant had borderline intellectual functioning and would need legal concepts explained in a concrete manner and might need them repeated. They determined, however, that his limitations did not rise to the level of a mental defect or prevent Murphy from understanding the proceedings or participating in his own defense. On the basis of the psychiatric report, the court concluded that defendant was competent to stand trial.

"It is well established that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the criminal prosecution of a defendant who is not competent to stand trial." Medina v. California, 505 U.S. 437, 439, 112 S.Ct. 2572, 2573, 120 L.Ed.2d 353 (1992). The test of whether a defendant is competent to stand trial is "whether he has sufficient present ability to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding--and whether he has a rational as well as factual understanding of the proceedings against him." Dusky v. United States, 362 U.S. 402, 80 S.Ct. 788, 4 L.Ed.2d 824 (1960). This same standard applies "to questions of whether the defendant has the requisite mental capacity to stand trial." Williams v. Bordenkircher, 696 F.2d 464, 466 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 461 U.S. 916, 103 S.Ct. 1898, 77 L.Ed.2d 287 (1983).

Where, as here, the district court has ordered a psychiatric evaluation and held a hearing prior to determining competency, this court reviews the findings of the district court for clear error. United States v. Baker, 807 F.2d 1315, 1320 (6th Cir.1986).

In the instant case, the district court's decision unquestionably was proper. The only psychiatric evaluation that was conducted concluded that defendant was competent to stand trial. The examiners specifically concluded that they strongly suspected defendant was fabricating his claims of hearing voices. Neither his description of the auditory hallucinations nor his responses on credibility tests supported any other conclusion. Moreover, while the examining psychiatrists found borderline intelligence, they concluded that defendant was capable of understanding what was happening to him. Further they found that he was able to determine when a plea agreement would be to his advantage, that he understood the roles of various court personnel, and that he had sufficient ability to concentrate to be able to follow the proceedings.

At the competency hearing, defendant raised only two challenges to the psychiatric findings. First, counsel reported that defendant continued to complain of hearing voices. As the district court noted, however, similar earlier complaints were found to be highly suspicious by the psychiatrists. Consequently, because the court concluded that defendant's reports of hearing voices were fabricated, it properly gave little weight to additional such reports.

Second, defendant pointed out that the psychiatric report stated that defendant required repetition to understand. He contended that because such repetition was not possible during the immediacy of trial proceedings, he was...