State v. Wallace

399 S.W.3d 921, 2013 WL 2402842, 2013 Mo. App. LEXIS 676
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 4, 2013
DocketNo. ED 97984
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 399 S.W.3d 921 (State v. Wallace) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Wallace, 399 S.W.3d 921, 2013 WL 2402842, 2013 Mo. App. LEXIS 676 (Mo. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

GARY M. GAERTNER, JR., Chief Judge.

Introduction

Anthony Wallace (Appellant) appeals his convictions of assault in the first degree, robbery in the second degree, attempted forcible rape, attempted forcible sodomy and kidnapping, and his subsequent sentences. In his sole point on appeal, Appellant argues the trial court’s determination that Appellant was competent to stand trial was unsupported by substantial evidence. We affirm.

Background

The sufficiency of the evidence to support Appellant’s convictions is not contested on appeal. The evidence at trial established that Appellant approached a car that was parked outside a bar with the engine running. A woman (Victim) who had been inside the bar earlier was sleeping in the car, waiting for her boyfriend to pick her up. A security video showed Appellant trying to open the car door and knocking on the window. Appellant walked away and came back with a large object, which he used to break the driver’s side window. He got in the car and drove away.

Victim woke up to the sound of the window breaking. She asked Appellant to let her out of the car and offered him money. He punched her in the face several times, breaking her nose. He then took out his penis and tried to force Victim’s head toward it. Victim jumped out of the moving car and ran up some stairs toward what she thought was a church. She had nowhere to go and ran back down the stairs, where Appellant grabbed her and forced her back into the car. He got back in the car and began to drive again.

Victim believed the only way to get out of the car was to wreck it, so she grabbed the steering wheel and yanked it. The car hit a parked sport utility vehicle. Victim got out and tried to run away, but Appellant caught up to her in a gangway. A man who lived nearby saw Appellant pulling on Victim’s clothes and heard Victim screaming. The man called 911.

Police arrived and found Victim naked and semi-conscious in the gangway. They found her car less than a block away. Police seized a yellow skull cap that was inside the car. A DNA analyst identified the DNA of three individuals on the cap, and Appellant was the major contributor. The DNA analyst also matched Appellant’s DNA to DNA recovered from the driver’s side airbag of Victim’s car. Victim also viewed a photographic lineup and chose Appellant’s photograph.

Before trial, Appellant’s counsel filed a motion to declare Appellant incompetent to stand trial. Appellant did not request a court-ordered evaluation, but rather offered the report of Dr. Rachael Springman to support a finding of incompetency. The trial court ordered an evaluation by Dr. Tracey Fintel, a forensic examiner with the Missouri Department of Mental Health. The trial court then held a competency hearing.

At the hearing, both doctors testified that they reviewed Appellant’s special school district records, his health and criminal records, as well as the police reports in the present case. Both evaluated Appellant in person, and both concluded that Appellant had mild mental retardation and antisocial personality disorder.

Dr. Springman testified that antisocial disorder is a typical diagnosis in criminals, estimating that 80 percent of the prison population would meet the criteria for that disorder. Dr. Springman administered three objective tests, one of which was called Competence Assessment for Standing Trial for Defendants with Mental Re[923]*923tardation (CAST-MR). In the first part of the test, called understanding case events, Appellant answered 95 percent of the questions correctly, which is consistent with a person who is mentally competent. That part of the test evaluated whether Appellant could recount the details of his arrest in a clear and coherent manner, and Dr. Springman concluded that he could. The second part of the test was called skills to assist the defense, which addressed the function of an attorney and how to assist in defense. Appellant scored 60 percent, which falls between competency and incompetency. On the third part of the test, basic legal concepts, Appellant scored 64 percent, which was also in between competency and incompetency. Dr. Springman found Appellant understood the role of the prosecutor and the defense attorney, as well as what it means to plead guilty and not guilty, but he was confused regarding the concepts of maximum and minimum sentences.

Based on the tests and her interview with Appellant, Dr. Springman believed that Appellant was not competent at the time of her evaluation. She found that he had difficulty understanding several things: the role of courtroom personnel, the relation of the paperwork containing his charges to the reality of the charges, the weight of DNA evidence and its effect on options for approaching his defense, the meaning of the word “attempted” in some of the charged crimes, and some of the statements police officers made during Appellant’s interrogation. She did not believe he had the ability to understand court proceedings. However, she believed he could be restored to competency with training and education.

Dr. Fintel conducted a forensic interview of Appellant, but she did not administer any objective competency tests. She evaluated Appellant’s memory for recent events, attention, and concentration, and found no issues. When discussing Appellant’s criminal charges with him, Dr. Fintel believed Appellant understood the charges against him and appreciated the seriousness of them. She had reviewed Dr. Springman’s report, and Dr. Fintel said Appellant’s understanding of the roles of court personnel seemed improved from the time he saw Dr. Springman. He understood legal concepts even if he did not know the terms for them. Dr. Fintel observed that Appellant was dissatisfied with his attorney and did not trust his attorney, but Appellant knew he needed to tell his attorney everything truthfully in order to be represented adequately. Appellant also understood the role of witnesses, that he had the option of testifying or not testifying, and the role of the jury. Dr. Fintel concluded that Appellant did not lack mental fitness to proceed.

The trial court considered the testimony of Drs. Springman and Fintel, as well as both of their reports, and concluded Appellant was competent to stand trial. Appellant waived his right to a jury trial. After a bench trial, the trial court found Appellant guilty of one count of assault in the first degree, one count of robbery in the second degree, one count of attempted forcible rape, one count of attempted forcible sodomy, and one count of kidnapping. The trial court sentenced Appellant to concurrent sentences of 30 and 15 years on the first two counts, to be served consecutively with concurrent life sentences for the attempted rape and sodomy counts, and 15 years for the kidnapping count.

This appeal follows. In his sole point on appeal, Appellant argues that the trial court erred in determining Appellant was competent to stand trail.

Standard of Review

A trial court’s finding that a defendant is competent to stand trial is a [924]*924factual finding that will not be overturned unless there is no substantial evidence to support it. State v. Whitt, 330 S.W.3d 487, 493 (Mo.App. E.D.2010). We accept as true all evidence and reasonable inferences tending to support the trial court’s findings. Id. The accused has the burden to prove incompetence. Id.

Discussion

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Related

Anthony Wallace v. State of Missouri
573 S.W.3d 136 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2019)
State of Missouri v. Aroostook Mette-Njuldnir
465 S.W.3d 521 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 2015)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
399 S.W.3d 921, 2013 WL 2402842, 2013 Mo. App. LEXIS 676, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-wallace-moctapp-2013.