United States v. Barnes

551 F. Supp. 22, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15836
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Oklahoma
DecidedMarch 23, 1982
DocketCR-80-118-D
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 551 F. Supp. 22 (United States v. Barnes) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Barnes, 551 F. Supp. 22, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15836 (W.D. Okla. 1982).

Opinion

ORDER

DAUGHERTY, District Judge.

The Defendant has filed a Motion under Rule 32(d) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure 1 for permission to withdraw his plea of nolo contendere and to enter a plea of not guilty by reason of temporary insanity. The Defendant, acting pro se, has filed a supporting Brief with exhibit, and the Government has responded with a Brief in opposition to the Motion. The Defendant bases his claim for relief upon an allegation that he was mentally incompetent to enter his plea.

This Motion comes before the Court after sentencing upon the Defendant’s plea to one count of possession of an unregistered firearm in violation of 26 U.S.C. §§ 5861(c) and 5871. The plea was entered pursuant to an agreement with the Government that it would move to dismiss the two other counts of the Indictment against the Defendant and the two counts in the Indictment against the Defendant’s wife. The Defendant was sentenced to five years imprisonment. The agreed Motion of the Government was granted by the Court.

The Indictment, filed on August 4, 1980, alleged that the violations occurred on June 4, 1980. The Defendant originally pleaded not guilty and appeared ready for trial by jury on September 15, 1980. After a jury w;as empaneled, the Defendant changed his plea to nolo contendere as to the one count. The Court requested a presentence report and sentenced the Defendant on October 29, 1980.

In support of his claim of mental incompetence, the Defendant alleges that he was involved in a motorcycle accident on July 21,1980, in which he sustained head injuries rendering him unconscious and causing “blackouts” for a long period thereafter, sometimes at a rate of three or four times a day and lasting up to 30 minutes. He claims that “the episodes of ‘depersonalization’ (blackouts) continued throughout the period of these various proceedings, including the time when the plea was entered.” In support of these claims, Defendant offers a medical report which, he asserts, shows that the attending physician diagnosed him as suffering from the alleged “depersonalization.” For further proof of *24 such a mental state, he claims that on October 25th, 40 days after the plea, he became loud and boisterous and removed all of his clothing in the office of his wife’s attorney and had to be forcibly removed, an event which Defendant claims he cannot remember but which he states the attorney reported to the Oklahoma Bar Association.

Finally, the Defendant claims that there was reason to question his mental state at the time he changed his plea and when he was sentenced and that the Court should have noted this and, sua sponte, ordered a competency hearing. Failure to do so, it is alleged, was such a denial of fundamental protection as to constitute a “manifest injustice” under Rule 32(d). The Defendant requests that the judgment and sentence be vacated, that he be permitted to enter a new plea of not guilty by reason of temporary insanity, and that the Court set an evidentiary hearing as to sanity.

Thus, an issue framed by the Defendant in his Motion is whether the Court committed error in failing to order a mental examination and judicial determination of mental competency under 18 U.S.C. § 4244. Such contention is clearly frivolous in view of the failure of the Defendant, the defense attorney, and the United States attorney to move the Court for such a judicial determination prior to imposition of sentence and the complete lack of any indication of mental incompeteney either communicated to or observed by the Court from the behavior of the Defendant. United States v. Dunn, 594 F.2d 1367, at 1372 (10th Cir.1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 852, 100 S.Ct. 106, 62 L.Ed.2d 69.

It is settled in this Circuit that it would be manifestly unjust to permit a guilty plea entered by an incompetent to stand. Kienlen v. United States, 379 F.2d 20, at 28 (10th Cir.1967). To let it stand when there is adequate evidence or information before the Court to raise a “bona fide doubt” of the competency of the Defendant would violate due process, Pate v.

Robinson, 383 U.S. 375, 86 S.Ct. 836, 15 L.Ed.2d 815 (1966); Wolcott v. United States, 407 F.2d 1149 (10th Cir.1969), cert. denied, 396 U.S. 879, 90 S.Ct. 156, 24 L.Ed.2d 137 (1969). A defendant who later raises the issue of mental competency at the time of entry of a plea or trial is ordinarily entitled to an evidentiary hearing on the issue of competency, but no hearing is necessary where the allegations are bald conclusions or where the records and files in the case are conclusive on the issue. Nolan v. United States, 466 F.2d 522 (10th Cir.1972); Eskridge v. United States, 443 F.2d 440 (10th Cir.1971); Schutz v. United States, 432 F.2d 25 (10th Cir.1970), cert. denied, 401 U.S. 1002, 91 S.Ct. 1245, 28 L.Ed.2d 535 (1971); Burke v. United States, 427 F.2d 465 (10th Cir.1970); Martinez v. United States, 423 F.2d 479 (10th Cir.1970); Kienlen v. United States, supra; Nunley v. United States, 364 F.2d 825 (10th Cir.1966); Butler v. United States, 361 F.2d 869 (10th Cir.1966); Martinez v. United States, 344 F.2d 325 (10th Cir.1965); McDonald v. United States, 341 F.2d 378 (10th Cir.1965); Nipp v. United States, 324 F.2d 711 (10th Cir.1963); Ellison v. United States, 324 F.2d 710 (10th Cir.1963). An evidentiary hearing will be required where the above conditions are met and where the particular behavior or phenomenon upon which the claim of incompetence is based is not one that would “necessarily have been apparent to the trial judge,”

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

Related

State v. Krieger
471 N.W.2d 599 (Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, 1991)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
551 F. Supp. 22, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15836, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-barnes-okwd-1982.