Engle v. State

774 P.2d 1303, 1989 Wyo. LEXIS 138, 1989 WL 57019
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedMay 31, 1989
Docket88-123
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 774 P.2d 1303 (Engle v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Engle v. State, 774 P.2d 1303, 1989 Wyo. LEXIS 138, 1989 WL 57019 (Wyo. 1989).

Opinions

URBIGKIT, Justice.

Mark E.' Engle (appellant), an unemployed twenty-four year old transient, was sentenced for felony auto theft, and his appeal now presents procedural and documentary sufficiency for judicial determination of either his competency to stand trial or to be convicted.

I. FACTS

On September 11, 1987, Nick Stovall parked at a store in Casper to purchase an ice cream cone. On return to the parking lot, his 1979 GMC Suburban was gone. A witness in the vicinity saw the vehicle being driven around a corner at a fast speed and skid into an adjacent tree. The driver got out, appeared to be drunk, looked at witnesses at the scene and vehicle damage, got back in the vehicle and drove away. An hour or so later, at a point about thirty miles east of town toward Douglas, a highway patrolman stopped the vehicle because of a REDDI report (Report Every Drunk Driver Immediately) and his observation of swerving and general erratic, driving. The arresting officer drew his weapon and called for backup. Circumstances of the resulting arrest indicated strangeness of behavior, if not intoxication.

Appellant, as the driver, was arrested upon confirmation of vehicle theft and charged with felony auto theft and not the joyriding misdemeanor. When thereafter arraigned in district court, appellant, as an indigent, was provided appointed counsel and first pleaded not guilty. Thereafter, on November 2, 1987, a stipulated order [1304]*1304approved and entered by the district court provided:

COMES NOW the Defendant, by and through his court appointed attorney, Jack Yreeland, and hereby moves the Court to enter his pleas of not guilty by reason of mental illness and not triable by reason of mental illness or deficiency, and upon the stipulation by the State of Wyoming by and through Patrick Crank, Assistant District Attorney, and the Court being duly apprised in the premises FINDS that it would be in the best interest of justice that the Defendant be transported to the Wyoming State [H]os-pital at Evanston for an evaluation to determine whether or not the Defendant is fit to proceed and to determine whether or not the Defendant had a mental illness or deficiency at the time of the commission of the offense.
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the Defendant shall be transported by the Natrona County Sheriffs Department to the State Hospital at Evanston for an evaluation pursuant to Wyoming Stat[ut]e 7-11-303 and 7-11-304.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Defendant shall remain at the Wyoming State Hospital on an in-patient basis for a period no longer than thirty days (30) for the study of the mental condition of the accused.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that written reports of the pre-trial examination shall be filed with the Clerk of Court and including those matters as set forth with Wyoming Statute 7-11-303 and 7-11-304.
II. INSANITY DEFENSE PROCEDURE

Responsive to the district court order, a letter dated November 24, 1987, as filed November 30, 1987, was furnished and signed in behalf of Frank L. Rundle, M.D. and approved by the state hospital superintendent, which stated in full text:

Mr. Engle was admitted to the Wyoming State Hospital on 12 Nov 87 in accordance with your order for evaluation.
He was interviewed by the undersigned on 13 Nov 87 at which time he declared that he had had no prior knowledge of his coming to the hospital for evaluation, that he had not been informed of this by his attorney, that he objected to being here and would not undergo evaluation; His attorney, Mr. Vreeland, was contacted, and he stated that indeed he had discussed the evaluation with his client and that he did, in fact, know that he was being sent to the hospital. He further explained that one of the difficulties he has had in working with the client is that he presents different stories at different times about the same set of circumstances and it has been impossible to know which was accurate.
I met with Mr. Engle again on 16 Nov 87 at which time he again stated that he had no knowledge of coming to the hospital for evaluation and declared again that he would not participate in the procedure. It was therefore decided that he would be returned to jail.
In the two brief interviews which were held with Mr. Engle at this hospital, he did provide some limited information. He stated that he had been in the Arizona State Hospital in Phoenix at some time in the past, that having been also for a court ordered evaluation, and he was found to be competent. He had also been treated in a private psychiatric hospital in Phoenix as a result of an accidental overdose of Methamphetamine, a drug which he had used regularly over a period of several years.
In these two interviews, Mr. Engle manifested no obvious signs of mental illness or deficiency. There was no associational thought disorder, no disturbance of mood or affect, and no evidence for hallucinations or delusions or other major psychopathology. He was well oriented, there was no impairment of attention or concentration, memory was intact, and intellectual level was estimated to be high average.

III. INTENT AS AN ISSUE OF THE OFFENSE

It is the statutory sufficiency of this correspondence which was not even signed by the author from which we are called to consider effectiveness to deny and nullify a [1305]*1305pleaded defense of non-responsibility and mental illness or deficiency. The state of appellant’s intent and his degree of intoxication were peculiarly significant because, dependent upon the character of intent in regard to displacement of rights of ownership, the undenied offense was either a felony auto theft or misdemeanor joyriding.

The felony auto theft, as provided by W.S. 6-3-402(a), states:

A person who steals, takes and carries, leads or drives away property of another with intent to deprive the owner or lawful possessor is guilty of larceny.

The maximum punishment is ten years imprisonment and a $10,000 fine or both if the property value is $500 or more. The joyriding statute, W.S. 31-11-102, provides:

Any person who without specific authority of the owner or his authorized and accredited agent willfully, wantonly, or maliciously takes possession of, or drives, propels or takes away, or attempts to take possession of, drive, propel, or take away a vehicle, the property of another, for the purpose of temporarily making use of the vehicle, or who knowingly aids, abets or assists another in so doing, upon conviction, is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than one (1) year, a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00), or both.

Consequently, in defense theory as now presented and since the obvious unauthorized taking did occur, the appellate issue becomes whether permanent intent to deprive was refuted either by intoxication or lack of mental competency.

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Related

Potter v. State
2007 WY 83 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 2007)
Engle v. State
821 P.2d 1285 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1991)
Garcia v. State
777 P.2d 1091 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1989)

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Bluebook (online)
774 P.2d 1303, 1989 Wyo. LEXIS 138, 1989 WL 57019, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/engle-v-state-wyo-1989.