United States v. Chavis, 72-1532.

• Decision Date: 04 April 1973
• Docket Number: No. 72-1532.,72-1532.
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America v. Walter J. CHAVIS, Jr., Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

476 F.2d 1137 (1973)

UNITED STATES of America v. Walter J. CHAVIS, Jr., Appellant.

No. 72-1532.

United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued March 7, 1973.

Decided April 4, 1973.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Robert H. Turtle, Washington, D. C. (appointed by this Court) for appellant. Richard C. Johnson, Washington, D. C. (also appointed by this Court), was on the brief for appellant.

Richard L. Beizer, Asst. U. S. Atty., with whom Harold H. Titus, Jr., U. S. Atty., John A. Terry, and Robert J. Higgins, Asst. U. S. Attys., were on the brief for appellee.

Before McGOWAN, TAMM and WILKEY, Circuit Judges.

WILKEY, Circuit Judge:

Appellant was charged with four counts of assault with intent to commit armed robbery and related offenses.¹ There is little doubt on the facts, and appellant did not contest at trial and does not contest here that he committed the acts with which he is charged. His sole defense was that he was legally insane at the time of the offense. His appeal is based on the allegation that he did not receive adequate psychiatric assistance to prepare this defense. Due to the absence in the record of certain critical information, we cannot determine at this time whether appellant was improperly denied psychiatric assistance. We therefore remand the case to the trial court to develop evidence and permit explanation of certain points presently obscured.

I. Evidence and Trial Court Action

Appellant has a history of psychological instability. In 1969 a military doctor recommended that he be released from the Army in part because of an observed propensity toward psychiatric illness. In 1970, after undergoing an operation, appellant was confined to the psychiatric ward of a Veterans Administration hospital because of violent, irrational outbursts. He was diagnosed as having an "anti-social personality" and being a "borderline schizophrenic." On one occasion following his discharge from the VA hospital police had to be called to subdue appellant who was acting in an irrational manner. He was immediately taken to the psychiatric ward of the D. C. General Hospital where he spent 16 days; appellant's admission was based upon a conclusion that he was "mentally ill." Following his discharge appellant allegedly experimented with various drugs, including LSD. On 5 January 1971, four months after being released from the psychiatric ward of D. C. General, appellant committed the acts which led to his arrest.

In April 1971 appellant's counsel moved to have appellant examined pursuant to 24 D.C.Code § 301 to determine his competency to stand trial and his mental condition as of the date of the charged offenses. The motion was granted and appellant spent 15 days being examined in St. Elizabeths, a Government-operated psychiatric hospital. The St. Elizabeths report stated that appellant was competent to stand trial and was not suffering from a mental disease or defect on the date of the offense. In November 1971 appellant's attorney moved for a second examination in order to verify the initial findings of the first court-ordered examination, and to permit the defense to determine if grounds existed to assert a defense of insanity. The motion was granted and appellant was referred to Legal Psychiatric Services, an agency of the Government. Appellant was examined for about 50 minutes by Dr. Maguigad of LPS, who reported that, while appellant was presently competent to stand trial, he had been "suffering from Schizophrenia Undifferentiated Type which substantially imparied sic his behavior at the time of alleged offense.. . ."

Following this report appellant's attorney wrote a letter ex parte to the trial judge, moving to have Maguigad appointed to serve as a defense witness under the provisions of 18 U.S.C. § 3006A, which provides for the allocation of money to pay for expert witnesses for indigent defendants.² This request apparently was made because defense counsel felt that additional examinations by Dr. Maguigad would be necessary for him to serve as an effective witness, and that consultation between the doctor and defense counsel would be necessary in order to prepare an effective presentation to the jury.

The trial judge took no action on the motion until a March 1972 calendar call, at which time appellant's attorney in open court and before the prosecutor inquired as to the disposition of his request. Upon hearing that appellant had requested expert assistance, the prosecutor vigorously opposed the motion as being unnecessary and a waste of money in light of the psychiatric examinations already undertaken. The court ruled that Dr. Maguigad could not be appointed under § 3006A, ostensibly because there might be an apparent conflict of interest between his role as a court-appointed independent expert and his acting as a defense witness under § 3006A. Appellant immediately applied alternatively for another expert to be appointed ; the Government opposed this as well. The court declined to appoint another doctor, saying:

We are not going to continually appoint more and more psychiatrists. This is it. He has been examined by two psychiatrists . . . . Your motion is denied.³

The stated basis for appellant's desire to receive more examinations from either Dr. Maguigad or another doctor was that counsel believed that Dr. Maguigad's 50-minute examination would have little weight in the jury's mind when countered by the 15 days of examinations conducted by St. Elizabeths, the results of which supported the Government's position.⁴

Indeed, appellant's fears were borne out at trial. The Government seriously impeached Dr. Maguigad, both on his qualifications as an expert and his familiarity with the case.⁵ At the conclusion of the cross-examination of Dr. Maguigad, appellant's attorney moved for a mistrial on the ground that appellant had been unlawfully denied psychiatric assistance sufficient to prepare an adequate defense. The trial court denied the motion. The jury subsequently found appellant guilty on all counts and appellant was sentenced to a jail term.

II. Failure to Appoint Under Section 3006A

A. The Statutory Scheme

18 U.S.C. § 3006A is designed to provide indigent defendants in criminal cases with representation and expert service. It is clear that the Act comprehends within its definition of "expert services" the assistance of a psychiatric expert in preparing and presenting an insanity defense.⁶ The test to be applied in determining whether the court should provide such service consists of two factors : whether the defendant is financially unable to obtain the required service himself, and whether the service is necessary to the preparation and presentation of an adequate defense.⁷ A defendant's indigency and need for assistance under § 3006A is to be determined by an ex parte proceeding. There is no dispute in this case that appellant is financially unable to obtain the required service himself. The case turns on whether or not the service requested is necessary to an adequate defense.

The purpose and nature of a § 3006A appointment is entirely different from an examination conducted by an order of the court. The latter is conducted to serve the court in a completely nonpartisan manner.⁸ While the opinions of such an expert may assist one side or the other in a case, this is not the primary purpose for the expert's appointment. The expert appointed under § 3006A, however, is not originally and primarily an aide to the court, but rather is intended to serve the interests of the defendant. The Fifth Circuit has noted this distinction in analyzing the effect of examinations conducted under provisions analogous to the statute under which defendant was referred to St. Elizabeths and sent to PLS :

Sec. 4244 concerns examination to determine if the defendant is competent to stand trial. The court appoints a psychiatrist who examines the accused and reports to the court. Rule 28 authorizes the court to appoint its own expert witness, who is expected to be neutral and detached. He advises the parties of his findings. See Rule 28 and Wright, Federal Practice and Procedure, § 452. The § 3006A(e) expert fills a different role. He supplies expert services "necessary to an adequate defense," which embraces pretrial and trial assistance to the defense as well as availability to testify. His conclusions need not be reported to either the court or the prosecution.⁹

It has been established in this Circuit that under some circumstances § 3006A commands that psychiatric examinations be ordered and that the statute envisions that experts will aid in the preparation for trial as well as testify at the trial itself.¹⁰ Heretofore it has not been necessary to delineate the precise parameters of the requirements and the trial court's discretion in making such appointments.

It is clear that court-ordered psychiatric examinations such as the first two conducted in this case are not necessarily sufficient so that no examinations need be provided under § 3006A. The Eighth Circuit, for example, in United States v. Schultz,¹¹ held that the trial judge had abused his discretion in refusing to order the appointment of a § 3006A expert. In that case the defendant had a history of psychopathic behavior. Likewise in Schultz the defendant was committed for observation in a Government hospital to determine his competency to stand trial. This report indicated that defendant was competent but that defendant suffered from some form of psychological disturbance. After noting that this was apparently a case of first impression, the court held that it was error under these circumstances for the trial court to deny defendant's request under § 3006A for psychiatric assistance in preparing its case.

It cannot be true, however, that a defendant always has a right to a psychiatrist under § 3006A. Under some circumstances the court would have the responsibility to prevent abuses from defendants asking for multiple...