United States v. Mackey

• Decision Date: 10 June 2013
• Docket Number: No. 12–2274.,12–2274.
• Citation: 717 F.3d 569
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff–Appellee, v. Shawn Allan MACKEY, Defendant–Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

717 F.3d 569

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff–Appellee,

v.Shawn Allan MACKEY, Defendant–Appellant.

No. 12–2274.

United States Court of Appeals,

Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: Dec. 14, 2012.

Filed: June 10, 2013.

Gary G. Colbath, Jr., AFPD, argued, Scott D. McGregor, on the brief, Rapid City, SD, for appellant.

Eric D. Kelderman, AUSA, argued, Rapid City, SD, for appellee.

Before LOKEN, BRIGHT, and COLLOTON, Circuit Judges.

COLLOTON, Circuit Judge.

Shawn Mackey was indicted for failing to register as a sex offender, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2250(a). After the parties stipulated that Mackey was incompetent to understand the proceedings against him or to assist in his own defense, see18 U.S.C. § 4241, the government moved to medicate Mackey involuntarily to restore his competency to stand trial. Applying the criteria set forth in Sell v. United States, 539 U.S. 166, 123 S.Ct. 2174, 156 L.Ed.2d 197 (2003), the district court ¹ granted the motion. Mackey appeals, and we affirm.

I.

On June 15, 2010, a grand jury charged Mackey with one count of failing to register as a sex offender, as required under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (“SORNA”). The district court ordered Mackey detained pending trial, and later granted Mackey's motion for a mental evaluation, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §§ 4241(a) and 4242(a).

Mackey was evaluated at the Federal Detention Center in Seattle, Washington. Mackey refused to participate in the competency assessment process, so mental health professionals were unable to provide an opinion concerning his competency to stand trial. Accepting a stipulation of the parties, however, the district court later found after a hearing that Mackey was suffering from a mental disease or defect that rendered him mentally incompetent to understand the proceedings against him or to assist in his defense. See18 U.S.C. § 4241. In August 2011, the court ordered Mackey committed to the custody of the Attorney General for further evaluation and treatment at a suitable federal medical facility, with the goal of determining whether there is a substantial probability that Mackey would attain the capacity to stand trial in the foreseeable future. See id. § 4241(d)(1).

In March 2012, after receipt of a forensic mental health evaluation prepared at the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri, the government moved the court to conduct a Sell hearing to determine whether Mackey should be medicated involuntarily. The district court heard testimony from two doctors at the Medical Center—Dr. Christina Pietz, Ph.D., ABPP, Staff Psychologist, and Dr. Robert Sarrazin, M.D., Chief of Psychiatry. Dr. Pietz is a board-certified forensic psychologist. In more than twenty years at the United States Medical Center, Dr. Pietz's primary responsibility has been to complete court-referred competency and sanity evaluations, civil commitments, and risk assessments. She has treated a number of patients who suffer from delusional disorders, and testified over three hundred times in federal court regarding patients' mental health or competency to stand trial. Dr. Sarrazin is board certified in general psychiatry, forensic psychiatry, and psychosomatic medicine. As Chief of Psychiatry at the Medical Center, he treats patients with psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia, delusional disorder, and psychotic disorder not otherwise specified. Approximately one hundred patients at the Medical Center are involuntarily medicated at any given time.

Dr. Pietz testified that she tried to interview Mackey on seven occasions between December 1, 2011, and February 7, 2012, but that Mackey refused to talk to her on almost all of those occasions, so she was unable to have extensive interviews with him. Dr. Pietz was aware from the forensic evaluation in Seattle that Mackey may suffer from a mental illness, and she was aware that the district court had found Mackey incompetent to stand trial. She testified:

[Mackey] made a number of comments that suggested he was suffering from a mental illness. He indicated that he owns Alaska.... And another time he reported that his mother owned Alaska.... That's a symptom of a mental illness; it's a delusion, a delusion of grandiosity.... Given his presentation, the comments he made, I felt that even though I had [little] interaction with him, his presentation was consistent with someone suffering from a mental illness, a psychotic disorder.

Using terminology from a manual of mental disorders, Dr. Pietz concluded that Mackey suffers from a “psychotic disorder not otherwise specified.” See Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 343 (Am. Psychiatric Ass'n ed., 4th ed. 2000).

Dr. Sarrazin interviewed Mackey in February 2012. Mackey came out of his cell and “spent some time” talking with the doctor. Dr. Sarrazin testified it was “quite clear from [his] interview with [Mackey] that he's delusional, disorganized in his thinking,” and that Mackey made clear that he did not want to take medication. Dr. Sarrazin opined that administration of antipsychotic medication would be necessary to restore Mackey's competence to stand trial. He saw a substantial probability that the medication he recommended would render Mackey competent to stand trial, and that side effects of the medication would not impair Mackey's competency. Dr. Sarrazin said that medication would lead to marked improvement in other aspects of Mackey's life, including better personal hygiene and the ability to interact with peers. Both Dr. Sarrazin and Dr. Pietz testified that no less intrusive treatments are available to assist Mackey in regaining competency.

Following the hearing, the district court granted the government's motion to medicate Mackey involuntarily, if necessary. The court provided that “[i]f Mr. Mackey does not take the recommended medicationvoluntarily and the medical staff concludes involuntary administration is clinically appropriate, involuntary administration of anti-psychotic medication is ordered.”

The district court observed that both experts diagnosed Mackey with a “psychotic disorder not otherwise specified,” and noted that he suffers from delusions of grandeur. The court concluded that there was an “important governmental interest in this case, ... both with regard to the public policy of the SORNA statute, and in Mr. Mackey's particular case.” There was clear and convincing evidence, according to the court, “that the involuntary administration of medication, if necessary, will further the interest of restoring Mr. Mackey to competency” to stand trial. The court also found that involuntary medication is appropriate if necessary, and that there are no less intrusive treatments available. Finally, the district court determined that “the administration of the drugs is medically appropriate and in Mr. Mackey's best medical interests in light of his medical condition,” and that any side effects of the medication would not damage Mackey or interfere with his competency to stand trial.

Mackey timely appealed the district court's order. We have jurisdiction under the collateral order doctrine. Sell, 539 U.S. at 176–77, 123 S.Ct. 2174.

II.

In Sell, the Supreme Court concluded that the government may administer antipsychotic drugs involuntarily to render a mentally ill criminal defendant competent to stand trial for serious, but nonviolent, crimes. To order the administration of drugs, a court must find: (1) that an important governmental interest is at stake; (2) that involuntary medication will significantly further that governmental interest; (3) that involuntary medication is necessary to further that interest; and (4) that administration of the drugs is medically appropriate. Id. at 180–81, 123 S.Ct. 2174. The district court in this case made each of the required findings. We review de novo a court's legal determination that important governmental interests are at stake. United States v. Fazio, 599 F.3d 835, 840 (8th Cir.2010). The government must prove the other three elements by clear and convincing evidence, and we review the district court's findings for clear error. Id. at 840 & n. 2.

On the first element, it is undisputed that the government has an important interest in bringing to trial an individual accused of a serious crime, Sell, 539 U.S. at 180, 123 S.Ct. 2174, but Mackey argues that his offense was not serious, because it is merely a “non-violent, status offense.” In determining the seriousness of the offense, we agree with those circuits that place the greatest weight on the maximum penalty authorized by statute, see United States v. Green, 532 F.3d 538, 546–49 & n. 8 (6th Cir.2008); United States v. Palmer, 507 F.3d 300, 303–04 (5th Cir.2007); United States v. Evans, 404 F.3d 227, 238 (4th Cir.2005), as it is the most relevant objective indication of the seriousness with which society regards the offense. Blanton v. City of North Las Vegas, 489 U.S. 538, 541, 109 S.Ct. 1289, 103 L.Ed.2d 550 (1989). Congress established a maximum term of ten years' imprisonment for the offense of failure to register under SORNA, 18 U.S.C. § 2250(a), and that authorized punishment “is ‘serious' under any reasonable standard.” Evans, 404 F.3d at 238.

We disagree with Mackey's contention that so-called “status” offenses are not “serious” for purposes of Sell, or that the nature of the offense is a “special circumstance” that lessens the governmental interestin prosecution. See Sell, 539 U.S. at 180, 123 S.Ct. 2174. SORNA is premised on a legislative determination that sex offenders who are not properly registered present a serious risk to the safety of the community. The registration provision was part of “a broader statutory scheme enacted to address deficiencies in prior law that had enabled sex offenders to slip through the cracks.” Carr v. United States, 560 U.S. 438, 130 S.Ct. 2229, 2240, 176 L.Ed.2d 1152 (2010). Even where the commission of an offense does...