State v. Decato

75 A.3d 1131, 165 N.H. 294
CourtSupreme Court of New Hampshire
DecidedAugust 28, 2013
DocketNo. 2012-083
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 75 A.3d 1131 (State v. Decato) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of New Hampshire primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Decato, 75 A.3d 1131, 165 N.H. 294 (N.H. 2013).

Opinion

HlCKS, J.

The defendant, William Decato, appeals his convictions, following a jury trial in Superior Court (Brown, J.), for aggravated felonious sexual assault, see RSA 632-A:2, I (2007) (amended 2012), attempted aggravated felonious sexual assault, see id.; RSA 629:1 (2007), kidnapping, see RSA 633:1 (2007), burglary, see RSA 635:1 (2007), and falsifying physical evidence, see RSA 641:6 (2007), on the ground that he was incompetent to stand trial. We affirm.

The jury could have found the following facts. On August 25, 2009, at around 10:00 p.m., the defendant broke into the victim’s home through a window and encountered the victim asleep on her living room sofa. He put a cloth over her face and began to sexually assault her. As the victim struggled, the cloth fell from her face and she clearly saw the defendant, a man she had never seen before. She also saw, on a table by the sofa, a knife that was not hers. While the defendant was distracted, the victim grabbed the knife. The two struggled, and the defendant slapped and punched the victim in the face, while the victim stabbed the defendant in the neck.

The defendant remained in the victim’s home for approximately two hours, assaulting and attempting to assault her numerous times in the living room, bathroom, and bedroom. The defendant’s wound left blood inside and outside the house. Samples taken from the bathroom, living room, and bedroom were tested for DNA and the defendant was determined, to a reasonable degree of scientific certainty, to be the primary source of the DNA found. In addition, the defendant left his glasses and baseball cap at the scene of the crime. When the defendant left, he took the bedding from the victim’s bed and other blood-stained items from the bathroom, which he then discarded in various places in the neighborhood.

[296]*296Before trial, the defendant was evaluated by Dr. Daniel W. Comiskey, the New Hampshire Department of Corrections’ chief forensic examiner. Thereafter, the defendant sought a ruling that he was incompetent to stand trial on the ground that he had no memory of the period during which the charged offenses took place, and, therefore, he could not communicate facts relevant to possible defenses to his counsel.

At the competency hearing, Dr. Comiskey testified that the defendant related that he had consumed eleven beers between 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. on the night of the charged offenses, and that he had no memory of events between 10:00 p.m. and 3:00 a.m. the next day, when he was found by police. The defendant reported one previous “blackout” he had experienced after drinking a considerable amount of alcohol. Dr. Comiskey concluded that the most likely explanation for the defendant’s periods of amnesia was “consumption of a large amount of alcohol.”

Dr. Comiskey testified that the defendant showed no “impairment in his functioning” or “cognitive problems” and showed no signs of experiencing a thought or mood disorder at any time during the interview. Dr. Comiskey further stated that the defendant, “in general[,] had a very good, factual understanding and rational understanding of the proceedings against him.” In Dr. Comiskey’s opinion, the defendant was competent to stand trial.

For purposes of the competency determination, the Trial Court (Tucker, J.) “accepted] that the defendant has amnesia with respect to the events in question.” The court found, nevertheless, “that the State established by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant has a rational as well as factual understanding of the proceedings against him, as well as a ‘sufficient present ability to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding.’ ” The court concluded that “[w]hatever the extent of the defendant’s amnesia, it is not so severe as to affect his requisite understanding of the proceedings or the rationality of his discussions with counsel.”

The defendant was tried before a jury and found guilty on nine counts of aggravated felonious sexual assault, four counts of attempted aggravated felonious sexual assault, one count of kidnapping, one count of burglary, and two counts of falsifying physical evidence.

On appeal, the defendant challenges the finding that he was competent to stand trial. We defer to the trial court’s determination of competence unless we “conclude that no reasonable fact finder could have found as the trial court did.” State v. Moncada, 161 N.H. 791, 798 (2011).

“A criminal defendant has a constitutional right not to be tried if he is legally incompetent.” State v. Gourlay, 148 N.H. 75, 77 (2002). “The State bears the burden to prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that a [297]*297defendant is competent to stand trial.” Moncada, 161 N.H. at 795. We have adopted the two-pronged test for competency set forth by the United States Supreme Court in Dusky v. United States, 362 U.S. 402 (1960). See State v. Champagne, 127 N.H. 266, 270 (1985). That test requires that a defendant have: “(1) a sufficient present ability to consult with and assist his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding; and (2) a factual as well as rational understanding of the proceedings against him.” Moncada, 161 N.H. at 794 (quotation omitted); see Dusky, 362 U.S. at 402.

The defendant’s challenge relates only to the first prong of the competency test. To satisfy that prong, “the defendant must be able to communicate meaningfully with his attorney so as to be able to make informed choices regarding trial strategy.” Gourlay, 148 N.H. at 77 (quotation omitted). “He must be sufficiently coherent to provide his counsel with the information necessary to construct a defense.” Id. at 78.

We addressed amnesia in the competency context in State v. Kincaid, 158 N.H. 90 (2008), where we observed that a claim of amnesia “alone . . . does not automatically raise a bona fide or legitimate doubt triggering a due process right to a competency hearing.” Kincaid, 158 N.H. at 94. We also noted, quoting the Ohio Supreme Court:

“Although there are no definitive judicial explanations of what constitutes the ability to assist in one’s own defense,... it is clear that the cases without exception reject the notion that an accused possesses that ability only if he is able to remember the circumstances of the crime with which he is charged.”

Id. at 94-95 (quoting State v. Brooks, 495 N.E.2d 407, 413 (Ohio 1986)).

The defendant contends that the trial court erred in failing to “consider[ ] all relevant factors, identified by caselaw from other jurisdictions,” in determining whether a loss of memory rendered the defendant incompetent. He then cites a litany of such factors considered by other courts. We decline, however, to adopt a specific factors test or, indeed, any rigid test that must be met whenever a defendant claims incompetency due to amnesia.

Here, the defendant meets the Dusky test. Dr. Comiskey testified that the defendant had “a good rational and factual understanding of the proceedings against him, better than most individuals referred for evaluation of competence.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Smith
2025 N.H. 1 (Supreme Court of New Hampshire, 2025)
State of New Hampshire v. Mohammad Salimullah
Supreme Court of New Hampshire, 2020
State v. Lorraine P. Lanciaux
Supreme Court of New Hampshire, 2018
State of New Hampshire v. Benjamin L. Duling, Sr.
Supreme Court of New Hampshire, 2015
The State of New Hampshire v. Thomas Jur
94 A.3d 283 (Supreme Court of New Hampshire, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
75 A.3d 1131, 165 N.H. 294, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-decato-nh-2013.