United States v. Davis, 73-2534.
| Decision Date | 18 October 1974 |
| Docket Number | No. 73-2534.,73-2534. |
| Citation | 496 F.2d 1026 |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Charles Lloyd DAVIS, a/k/a Dr. Dudley Dee Goulden, III, Defendant-Appellant. |
Robert M. Alton, Jr., Montgomery, Ala. (Court-appointed), Wendell R. Morgan, Montgomery, Ala., for defendant-appellant.
Ira DeMent, U. S. Atty., David B. Byrene, Jr., D. Broward Segrest, Asst. U. S. Attys., Montgomery, Ala., for plaintiff-appellee.
Before GODBOLD SIMPSON and INGRAHAM, Circuit Judges.
Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied October 18, 1974.
Charles Lloyd Davis appeals from his conviction on each count of a four count indictment charging conspiracy, mail fraud, and the interstate transportation of a stolen motor vehicle.1 Davis was indicted with Ronald Wayne Harris, also known as Kenneth Ray Gibbons, who pled guilty to the indictment and was sentenced to five years confinement prior to Davis' trial and is therefore not involved in this appeal. Appellant asserts as grounds for reversal (1) prejudicial conduct by the trial court with respect to his defense of insanity at the time the offenses occurred and (2) the trial court's refusal to suppress evidence acquired in violation of his Fourth Amendment right to be free from unlawful searches and seizures. We find that error occurred with respect to his defense of insanity and reverse and remand for new trial. We uphold the search and seizure as lawful.
The facts leading to Davis' arrest are uncomplicated and may be briefly summarized. The activities related spanned the period from October 10 to October 25, 1971. Appellant and Harris secured false identification and false credit cards, the alias Dr. Dudley Dee Goulden III being used by Davis. The pair rented a Plymouth Fury in Jackson, Mississippi, and headed for Texas. In Texas they acquired an additional automobile, a 1972 Pontiac and two, female traveling companions. The foursome proceeded from Texas to other southern states, including Louisiana and Alabama, where Davis and Harris periodically cashed business checks using their respective aliases. This hegira ended with their apprehension in Montgomery, Alabama, as they were leaving the Plymouth Fury in the parking lot of the Midtown Holiday Inn. A briefcase on the front seat of the car was seized, and incriminating evidence found therein was used to support a request for a search warrant for their hotel rooms. The warrant issued, and the ensuing search of the rooms uncovered additional evidence which was used against Davis at his trial.
On September 22, 1972, the lower court conducted a competency, hearing under Title 18, U.S.C. Sec. 4244, found probable cause to believe that Davis might be insane, and committed him to the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners at Springfield, Missouri, for examination and study. The medical authorities at Springfield determined that Davis was competent to stand trial and the court was so advised by the United States Attorney on November 24, 1972. After a mental competency hearing on November 27, 1972, where the testimony of Dr. Robert J. Eardley and that of Davis was received, the district court determined that Davis was not competent to stand trial, despite the recommendation from Springfield. Dr. Eardley testified that the hospital had been unable to validate any of the personal and family history of appellant. Inconsistencies in the history were noted, and Dr. Eardley raised the possibility that Davis was a malingerer. Davis sat through the hearing with toilet paper stuffed in his ears, saying this was to keep out voices he heard. The court recommitted Davis to the attorney general pursuant to Title 18, U.S.C. Sec. 4246 on November 28, 1972, recommending further effort to establish the personal background of Davis and requesting a written report within six months. This report was received and a further competency hearing was held below on June 6, 1973, Davis being returned from Springfield for such hearing. This time the court found Davis competent based upon staff reports and Dr. Eardley's testimony. Trial of Davis on the four count indictment took place June 13-15, 1973. Prior to trial, extensive discovery was granted to appellant, including the results of all laboratory analyses and resumes of all expert or other reports, and production of all statements made by Davis. The United States was required to subpoena at government expense experts for the defense as to the sanity vel non of the defendant. Defense motions for judgment of acquittal were denied later at the close of the government's case and again at the close of all the testimony. The defense was based on pleas of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. The jury returned a verdict of guilty as to each count of the indictment.
During cross-examination of Dr. Eardley, who testified for the government, appellant's counsel attempted to introduce as evidence the court's order of November 28, 1972, finding Davis incompetent to stand trial at that time. Counsel obviously considered this order probative of Davis' mental condition at the time of the hearing and more importantly his mental condition at the time of the indictment offense a year earlier.
From the record it appears that government counsel was about to object when the court announced that the evidence was going to be admitted before the objection could be interposed. On redirect examination of Dr. Eardley the government offered as evidence the court's June 6, 1973 finding Davis then competent to stand trial, presumably to offset the earlier finding already before the jury. The June 6 order was admitted without objection from the defense. When Dr. Eardley's examination, direct and cross, was concluded, the following exchange occurred between the witness and the trial judge:
The action of the district court in calling its adjudication of Davis' competency to the jury's attention is urged as error, as well as the propriety of the court's jury instructions as to the presumption of an accused's sanity in the face of a prior adjudication of incompetency. At a re-trial the case will probably be in a different posture when it comes time to charge the jury. In view of this fact, we do not deal in this opinion with the questions raised as to the court's charge.
The clear but unheeded mandate of Title 18, U.S.C., Sec. 4244, is in pertinent part :
"A finding by the judge that the accused is mentally competent to stand trial shall in no way prejudice the accused in a plea of insanity as a defense to the crime charged; such finding shall not be introduced in evidence on that issue nor otherwise be brought to the notice of the jury." (Emphasis added)
With no objection raised at trial we must consider the admission of the June 6, 1972 finding of competency, within the limits imposed by the "plain error" command of Rule 52(b), F.R.Crim.P. A second question is raised by the government's brief: even if we find "plain error", was this waived by the injection of the mental competency question by the defense when it offered the November 28, 1972 order finding Davis incompetent? We determine that plain error occurred, that it was not waived by the prior action of the defense, and accordingly reverse for a new trial.
We discern plain error affecting substantial rights of the accused because of the specific prohibition of the introduction of evidence of a court finding of mental competency written by Congress into Sec. 4244, supra. A finding by the trial judge one week earlier that Davis was mentally competent would have such presumptive weight with a trial jury concerned with determining sanity vel non at the time of the offenses charged as to lead inescapably to the conclusion that Davis' right to a fair trial on this paramount issue was prejudicially affected. The violation of a statutorily granted right is usually and in most instances considered substantial. See, for example, United States v. Crowell, 5 Cir. 1971, 442 F.2d 346, 348 ; Amsler v. United States, 9 Cir. 1967, 381 F.2d 37, 45 ; cf. Mims v. United States, 5 Cir. 1967, 375 F.2d 135, 147 ; Taylor v. United States, 1955, 95 U.S.App.D.C. 373, 222 F.2d 398, 404.
The government urges that Lyles v. United States, 1957, 103 U.S. App.D.C. 22, 254 F.2d 725, is factually identical to the case at bar and held that evidence of a prior finding of competency by the court, if admitted without objection, is not plain error, and that we should follow that case. We give Lyles a different reading, assuming it should guide us. In a lengthy paragraph which discusses all the facts leading to a conclusion that the appellant waived the conceded error, it is once mentioned that "the ruling of the trial court was not prejudicial error". Lyles v. United States, supra, 254 F.2d at 732. The logical interpretation is that the lack of prejudice resulted from waiver, not from lack of plain error. Indeed, Judge Bazelon's dissent characterizes the majority opinion as finding a "waiver by the appellant from which it concludes that the error was not prejudicial." Id., 254 F. 2d at 741. To the extent that the majority opinion in Lyles may be read as asserting both grounds, we disagree.
The government also suggests that the error was "invited" by defense counsel's introduction of the November 28 finding of incompetency, foreclosing objection on appeal, citing among other cases United States v. White, 4 Cir. 1967, 377 F.2d 908, cert. denied, 389 U.S. 884, 88 S.Ct. 143, 19 L.Ed.2d...
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