State v. Paul Dennis Reid and Christopher Davis

Tennessee Supreme Court·Decided November 23, 1998·No. 01S01-9809-CC-00175·Published

Opinion

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF TENNESSEE AT NASHVILLE

FILED FOR PUBLICATION

STATE OF TENNESSEE, ) Filed: November 23, 1998 November 23, 1998 )

Appellee, ) Supreme Court Cecil W. Crowson ) No. 01S01-9809-CC-00175 Vs. Appellate Court Clerk )

) Hon. John H. Gasaway, III, ) Judge

PAUL DENNIS REID, ) Montgomery County ) No. 38887 Appellant, )

) Hon. Cheryl Blackburn, ) Judge

) Davidson County ) No. 97-C-1834 AND )

)

)

STATE OF TENNESSEE, ) Hon. J. Randall Wyatt, ) Judge

Appellee, ) Davidson County ) No. 96-B-866 Vs. )

)

CHRISTOPHER DAVIS, )

)

Appellant. )

FOR APPELLANT REID: FOR STATE OF TENNESSEE: J. Michael Engle John Knox Walkup Assistant Metro Public Defender Attorney General & Reporter Nashville, Tennessee Michael E. Moore

Michael R. Jones Solicitor General Public Defender 19th Judicial District Kathy Morante Clarksville, Tennessee Assistant District Attorney General Nashville, Tennessee

FOR APPELLANT DAVIS: Hershell Koger Victor S. Johnson, III Pulaski, Tennessee District Attorney General 20th Judicial District

Niles Nimmo Nashville, Tennessee John Wesley Carney, Jr.

District Attorney General 19th Judicial District

FOR AMICUS CURIAE: Tennessee Association Criminal Defense Lawyers Jefferson T. Dorsey Nashville, Tennessee

OPINION

COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS DROWOTA, J.

AFFIRMED AS MODIFIED.

We granted and consolidated the applications for permission to appeal filed

on behalf of Paul Dennis Reid and Christopher Davis to consider the following three important questions of criminal procedure.

1. Whether a defendant must give pre-trial notice of the intent to introduce expert testimony of his or her mental condition as mitigation at the sentencing phase of a capital trial?

2. If so, whether, at the request of the State, the trial court may order a mental examination of the defendant by a mental health expert selected by the State?

3. If so, what procedures should be followed in connection with this notice and examination?

For the reasons herein explained, we hold that a capital defendant must file pretrial notice of intent to present expert testimony regarding mental condition as mitigation evidence at the sentencing phase of the trial. Once such a notice is filed, the trial court, upon request of the State, may order the defendant to undergo a psychiatric evaluation by a mental health expert selected by the State. The defense will be afforded access to any expert reports prior to trial. The State will be afforded access to the reports only after a jury returns a verdict of guilty and the capital defendant confirms his or her intent to offer expert mental condition evidence in mitigation at the sentencing hearing. Accordingly, the decisions of the Court of Criminal Appeals are affirmed as modified.

BACKGROUND

Because this appeal involves questions of law, the relevant facts are

undisputed. The defendant, Paul Dennis Reid is charged in Davidson County with two counts of premeditated first degree murder and two alternate counts of first degree felony murder. Reid is also charged in Montgomery County with two counts of first degree premeditated murder and two alternate counts of first degree felony murder for two separate killings. The defendant Christopher Davis is charged in Davidson County with two counts of premeditated first degree murder and two alternate counts of felony first degree murder. These three cases have been assigned to three different trial judges.

In each of these cases, the State has given notice of its intention to seek the death penalty, and in each of these cases, the trial judge has ruled that the defense must provide pretrial notice to the State of intent to introduce evidence relating to mental condition as mitigation proof during the sentencing phase of the capital trial. In addition, all three trial courts ruled that Reid and Davis must undergo a psychiatric evaluation by a mental health expert selected by the State once the notice is filed. Each trial judge entered an order delineating the procedure to govern the evaluation once the notice is filed. The orders differed in one primary respect: the procedure to be followed after completion of the mental evaluation.

The orders entered in the Davidson County cases provide for the report of the mental health expert to be delivered to the court once the evaluation is complete. The trial judge will then provide the report to defense counsel to allow each of the defendants to decide, with the assistance of counsel, whether or not to proceed with the introduction of evidence of mental condition at the sentencing

phase. If the defense elects to proceed with the introduction of mental condition evidence, the expert’s report is given to the prosecution prior to trial. If, however, the defense elects to forego introduction of mental condition evidence, the State is not permitted to review the expert’s report at all.

In contrast, the order entered by Judge Gasaway in Montgomery County provides for the report of the State selected expert, and the report of any defense mental health expert, to be filed under seal with the trial court before commencement of jury selection. The reports will be released only in the event the jury returns a verdict of guilty of first degree murder and the defendant confirms his intent to offer mental condition evidence at sentencing. If the defendant withdraws his previously filed notice of intent to offer such evidence, the reports will not be released.

Following entry of the orders, both the Davidson and Montgomery County trial courts allowed the defendants to seek interlocutory appeals. The Court of Criminal Appeals accepted review and, in separate decisions, upheld the validity of the pretrial notice requirement and expert mental evaluation imposed upon Reid and Davis. The intermediate court adopted the procedural guidelines delineated by the Montgomery County Circuit Court which limits access to any expert reports until the jury returns a verdict of guilty and the capital defendant confirms his intent to introduce expert mitigation proof of mental condition at the sentencing hearing.

From those decisions, Reid and Davis filed separate applications for permission to appeal to this Court, and on September 30, 1998, we granted the

applications, consolidated the appeals, and set the cause for hearing on October 15, 1998. For the reasons that follow, we affirm as modified the decisions of the Court of Criminal Appeals.

ANALYSIS

A. Authority To Impose Requirements In this Court, the defendants first argue that the trial courts had no legal authority to require a capital defendant either to provide pretrial notice of intent to offer mental condition evidence or to submit to an evaluation by a State selected mental health expert. According to the defendants Tenn. R. Crim. P Rule 12.2 is limited in application to expert mental condition evidence relevant to the determination of guilt or innocence. The defendants likewise argue that Tenn. R. Crim. P. 16 requires disclosure of an expert’s report only if the report will be introduced by the defendant as evidence in chief at trial or if the report was prepared by a witness the defendant intends to call at trial and the report relates to the testimony of the witness.

While conceding that neither Rule 12.2 nor Rule 16 specifically refers to the sentencing phase of a capital trial, the State emphasizes that appropriate provisions of those Rules previously have been applied in the context of a capital sentencing proceeding. Where, as here, no rule precisely addresses the situation, the State argues that the trial courts have inherent power to adopt a procedure which is consistent in principle and spirit with existing rules of criminal procedure and with the statutory scheme governing capital sentencing proceedings.

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