Graham v. Jenne

837 So. 2d 554, 2003 WL 289263
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedFebruary 12, 2003
Docket4D02-4590
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 837 So. 2d 554 (Graham v. Jenne) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Graham v. Jenne, 837 So. 2d 554, 2003 WL 289263 (Fla. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

837 So.2d 554 (2003)

Bobby L. GRAHAM, Petitioner,
v.
Ken JENNE, Sheriff in and for Broward County, Florida, Respondent.

No. 4D02-4590.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.

February 12, 2003.

*555 Alan H. Schreiber, Public Defender, and Donald J. Cannarozzi, Assistant Public Defender, Fort Lauderdale, for petitioner.

Charlie Crist, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Joseph A. Tringali, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for respondent.

PER CURIAM.

Bobby Graham petitions this court for a writ of habeas corpus claiming that he was improperly committed in order to restore his competency to proceed with trial. We agree that the trial court erred in ordering his involuntary commitment to the Department of Children and Families ("DCF") and grant the petition.

Graham, age thirty-eight and a deaf mute since birth, communicates using limited sign language. He allegedly entered a home, took property, and then pawned it. Graham was later arrested for burglary and dealing in stolen property. Believing him incompetent to proceed, given Graham's deafness and linguistic deficiency, his attorney sought the court's appointment of experts to determine Graham's competency pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.211.

The trial court held several hearings to determine Graham's competency to proceed. At the first hearing, a forensic psychologist said that he tested Graham's I.Q. and determined that he was neither mentally retarded nor suffering from any mental illness.

Another expert, a clinical psychologist who worked with the deaf, testified that her testing of Graham revealed low cognitive functioning and a low average intelligence. This expert further testified that while Graham was neither mentally retarded nor suffering from any mental illness, he was not competent to proceed given his inability to process abstract concepts and terms used in a legal setting, such as "judge" or "jury." She opined that Graham's intellectual functioning suggested he was capable of learning, but that his trial *556 would have to be conducted in a very slow, methodical way. She believed that Graham was not a danger to himself or to others and that he did not meet the criteria for involuntary commitment.

Lastly, a psychologist with expertise in deaf culture testified that Graham would not be able to understand the most basic legal terms such as "jury," "prosecutor," or "judge," since his limited sign language did not contain such words. The psychologist testified that Graham generally understood the charges against him, but that he could not participate in his own defense. He also agreed that Graham was not mentally retarded and did not suffer from any mental illness. He thought it unlikely that Graham would ever gain competency.

The trial court initially indicated it would keep Graham in the county jail and have a psychologist attempt to work with him to gain competence to stand trial or enter a plea. After counsel objected to using the county jail as a holding facility, the court then ordered Graham to be held at the county jail on the basis that his past criminal history made him a "danger to the community." The court deferred its ruling on Graham's competency.

A week later, the trial court entered an order finding that Graham had no mental illness, but was borderline mentally retarded. The court ruled that Graham lacked the capacity to consult with his attorney with a reasonable degree of rational understanding and that he also lacked the communication and comprehension skills necessary to meet the basic due process standards to stand trial. The trial court declared him incompetent to proceed. The court also determined that Graham met the statutory definition of "retardation" under section 916.106(12), Florida Statutes (2001), given his significantly sub-average general intellectual functioning. The court committed him to DCF for training appropriate for his form of retardation and his physical handicap of deafness.

DCF moved to intervene so that it could appeal the court's order. Graham's counsel, in turn, moved for rehearing arguing that the expert's testimony at the hearing indicated Graham did not meet the criteria for involuntary confinement. Thereafter, the trial court entered an order granting DCF's motion to intervene and stayed its earlier order adjudging Graham incompetent to proceed.

At a later status hearing, Graham's counsel advised the court that the state had offered a plea bargain. Counsel indicated that despite his exhaustive efforts, he was unable to get Graham to understand the concepts involved in entering a plea. Counsel did not think Graham understood the rights he would waive by accepting the state's offer. Counsel then called one of the previous experts, who testified that Graham did not meet the criteria for involuntary commitment because he did not pose an imminent risk of danger to himself or others. He stated that Graham had no plan to harm himself or anyone else.

A licensed clinical social worker also testified that she would work with Graham weekly and try, if possible, to give him the linguistic tools that he needed to be legally competent. The state advised the court that Graham had six prior burglaries, and asserted that Graham appeared to be following the proceeding. The court spoke with Graham, commented that he was exaggerating his disability and questioned whether Graham was feigning the extent of his lack of understanding. The trial court then continued the matter and appointed another psychologist to evaluate his competency.

*557 The court also received a written report[1] prepared by a DCF staff psychologist which indicated Graham's recent I.Q. scores were "above the level of Mental Retardation" and that "there [were] no significant deficits in [his] overall social adaptive functioning."

At the third hearing, the court-appointed expert testified that Graham was incompetent to proceed, but did not meet the criteria for involuntary hospitalization. The psychologist recommended that Graham be sent to a county facility where DCF could be brought in to teach him the necessary signing language to restore his competency. The court asked the expert witness to elaborate on her conclusion that Graham was not a danger to himself or to others as defined by the criteria for involuntary hospitalization. The expert did not believe Graham to be directly violent, but thought, in an indirect way, that he could harm himself or someone else. She told the court that given Graham's deafness and his propensity to commit burglaries, he could find himself in a home where he may not hear the residents and could be shot, or if he saw that he was being discovered, he might attempt to leave and inadvertently harm someone else. She did not believe Graham was feigning his mental deficiencies and was uncertain whether he would ever be restored to competency.

At the conclusion of this hearing the court declared Graham incompetent to proceed. The court ordered Graham to be committed into the custody of DCF and housed at a custodial facility that would administer treatment to restore his competency to proceed.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
837 So. 2d 554, 2003 WL 289263, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/graham-v-jenne-fladistctapp-2003.