Wesley Randall Hatfield v. State

• Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
• Decided: May 23, 2013
• Docket: A13A0490
• Status: Published

Opinion

SECOND DIVISION BARNES, P. J., MILLER and RAY, JJ.

NOTICE: Motions for reconsideration must be physically received in our clerk’s office within ten days of the date of decision to be deemed timely filed. (Court of Appeals Rule 4 (b) and Rule 37 (b), February 21, 2008) http://www.gaappeals.us/rules/

May 23, 2013

In the Court of Appeals of Georgia A13A0490. HATFIELD v. THE STATE.

RAY, Judge.

After a jury trial, Wesley Randall Hatfield was convicted of rape (OCGA § 16-

6-1) and reckless conduct (OCGA § 16-5-60). In an earlier appeal from that

conviction before this Court, Hatfield challenged the trial court’s denial of his motion

for new trial, claiming that his lawyer failed to perform an adequate investigation into

whether Hatfield was suffering a delusional compulsion at the time of the rape,1 and

that, as a result, he was deprived of the effective assistance of counsel. Finding that

1 Under OCGA § 16-3-3, “[a] person shall not be found guilty of a crime, when, at the time of the act, omission, or negligence constituting the crime, the person, because of mental disease, injury, or congenital deficiency, acted as he did because of a delusional compulsion as to such act which overmastered his will to resist committing the crime.” Accord Durrence v. State, 287 Ga. 213, 215 (1) (a) (695 SE2d 227) (2010). Hatfield’s counsel was deficient, this Court, in an unreported opinion, vacated

Hatfield’s conviction and remanded the case to the trial court for consideration of

whether Hatfield was prejudiced by his counsel’s deficient performance. Hatfield v.

State, __ Ga. App. __ (Case No. A12A0597, decided on July 13, 2012). On remand,

the trial court determined, after a hearing, that trial counsel’s deficient performance

had not prejudiced Hatfield, and entered an order re-instating the original conviction

and sentence. Hatfield appeals from that order.

Hatfield’s sole enumeration on appeal is that the trial court erred by

concluding, upon remand, that he was not prejudiced by trial counsel’s failure to

investigate adequately the possibility that Hatfield was suffering from a delusional

compulsion at the time of his offense.

In order to succeed on his ineffective assistance claim, Hatfield bears the

burden of showing that his trial counsel’s “deficient performance prejudiced him to

the point that a reasonable probability exists that, but for counsel’s error, the outcome

of the trial would have been different.”(Citation omitted.) Smith v. State, 292 Ga. 316,

319 (4) (737 SE2d 677) (2013). See Strickland v. Washington, 466 U. S. 668, 687

(III) (104 SCt 2052, 80 LE2d 674) (1984). This burden is a heavy one. See

2 Kimmelman v. Morrison, 477 U. S. 365, 382 (II) (C) (106 SCt 2574, 91 LE2d 305)

(1986).

In reviewing the trial court’s determination that a defendant did not receive

effective assistance of counsel, we uphold the court’s factual findings unless they are

clearly erroneous, and we review the court’s legal conclusions do novo. Suggs v.

State, 272 Ga. 85, 88 (4) (526 SE2d 347) (2000).

So viewed, the record shows that on remand Hatfield filed a motion for funds

for a post-conviction psychiatric evaluation, which the trial court granted. Hatfield

then retained the services of Dr. Todd Antin, a Board Certified Forensic Psychiatrist,

to evaluate Hatfield’s criminal responsibility at the time of the offenses. After

examining Hatfield and reviewing previous evaluations, medical reports, and police

reports, Dr. Antin concluded that Hatfield currently was competent and that he did

“not meet the legal determination of insanity as defined by Georgia law.” Antin stated

in his report that, at the time of the alleged crimes, Hatfield had “the mental capacity

to distinguish between right and wrong in relation to such act and also lacked a

delusional compulsion as to such act which could have overmastered his will to resist

committing the crime.” Dr. Antin stressed that Hatfield had always acknowledged

that he had engaged in sexual intercourse with the victim, but argued that it was

3 consensual, and that “he knew at that time it was wrong for him to engage in sex if

she did not want to be a participant and was clear that he was not driven to do this act

by any distortion of his thinking or from reality.”

Hatfield points to certain statements by Dr. Antin as evidence that had he been

evaluated closer in time to the offenses that Dr. Antin might have had a different

opinion as to whether he was suffering from delusional compulsion when he

committed the offense. Those statements are that Hatfield “appeared somewhat

overmedicated and acknowledged that he was taking Depakote, Benadryl, and

injections of Haldol decanoate,” that Hatfield “continues to manifest serious and

significant psychiatric problems that have been present for most of his lifetime . . .

[and he] requires a significant amount of psychiatric medication to maintain

appropriate social skills, behavior and boundaries.”

Hatfield argues that, based on the above statements, “[g]iven the severity and

duration of [Hatfield’s] mental health diagnoses and symptoms, coupled with the

level and number of medications required to ‘stabilize’ his functioning, there is a

possibility that the failure to assess [Hatfield’s] criminal responsibility at a time closer

to the alleged offenses did, in fact, prejudice his defense.” (Emphasis omitted.)

4 However, these statements are speculative at best as to whether Dr. Antin would have

reached a different result if he had evaluated Hatfield closer in time to the offense.

Hatfield, as a defendant claiming the insanity defense, bore the burden of

proving the defense by a preponderance of the evidence. (Citation omitted.)

Durrence, supra at 215 (1) (a). This he has not done.

Georgia law is clear that there is a distinction between insanity and mental

illness. See id. at 216 (1) (a); Salter v. State, 257 Ga. 88, 89 (1) (356 SE2d 196)

(1987) (mental illness does not meet the test of legal insanity); Nelms v. State, 255

Ga. 473, 475 (2) (340 SE2d 1) (1986) (showing that defendant suffers from

schizophrenia and other psychosis does not establish legal insanity); Brown v. State,

250 Ga. 66, 71 (2) (b) (295 SE2d 727) (1982) (admission to mental institution will

not give rise to presumption of insanity absent adjudication of insanity). In the

present case, Hatfield has presented no evidence that he was legally insane or

suffering from delusional compulsion at the time his offense or at any other time. Dr.

Antin, as the only witness testifying to his mental ability, noted that although Hatfield

“was significantly psychiatrically impaired at the time of the alleged offenses, he is

clear in his statements to me, and corroborated by the medical record, that he knew

5 right from wrong and was not suffering from any delusional compulsion that would

have forced him to commit an act that he otherwise would not have engaged in.”

Hatfield presented no other testimony regarding his mental capacity.

Accordingly, Hatfield has failed to show that his trial counsel’s deficient

performance in failing to investigate whether he was suffering from delusional

compulsion at the time of his offense had a reasonable probability of altering the

outcome of his trial. “The failure of trial counsel to employ evidence cannot be

deemed to be ‘prejudicial’ in the absence of a showing that such evidence would have

been relevant and favorable to the defendant.” (Citation and punctuation omitted.)

Goodwin v. Cruz-Padillo, 265 Ga. 614, 615 (458 SE2d 623) (1995).

Judgment affirmed. Barnes, P. J., and Miller, J., concur.