Yancy v. State

88 So. 3d 1040, 2012 WL 1934462, 2012 Fla. App. LEXIS 8743
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMay 30, 2012
DocketNo. 4D12-709
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 88 So. 3d 1040 (Yancy v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Yancy v. State, 88 So. 3d 1040, 2012 WL 1934462, 2012 Fla. App. LEXIS 8743 (Fla. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

The defendant, whom the circuit court found to be incompetent, petitions for a writ of certiorari. She seeks to quash the court’s order directing her “to submit to a risk assessment evaluation conducted by the expert retained by the State of Florida for such evaluation.” She argues that the order departs from the essential requirements of law because: (1) no statute or rule authorizes a “risk assessment evaluation” of a defendant adjudicated incompetent; and (2) the order requires her to be examined by a state-retained expert instead of a court-appointed expert on a competency-related issue. We agree in part with the first argument, and agree in full with the second argument. Thus, we grant the petition.

The state charged the defendant with two counts of strong-arm robbery for two purse snatchings. In one of the incidents, the probable cause affidavit alleged that the defendant punched the victim in the jaw. The circuit court initially found the defendant was incompetent to proceed. Two years later, the court found the defendant had been restored to competency. The defendant then pled guilty to both charges. The court placed the defendant on probation for seven years.

Two years into the probationary period, the court again found that the defendant was incompetent to proceed. The court directed that the defendant be placed at a group home while receiving treatment to be restored to competency.

Four months into the defendant’s stay at the group home, she allegedly pushed a pregnant resident to the ground. The state charged the defendant with aggravated battery on a pregnant woman and alleged that the incident violated the defendant’s probation.

When the aggravated battery case came before the court for review, the court found that the defendant was incompetent to proceed in that case as well. In making that finding, the court stated that it may have to re-evaluate the defendant’s placement given that “the criteria is harm to herself or others.” The prosecutor responded, “I’ll do a risk assessment as well.” Defense counsel objected, arguing “There is no provision in the statute that allows the state to have a doctor evaluate her.” Defense counsel further argued that the court should appoint an expert to evaluate the defendant for placement. The court overruled the defense objection. The court later entered a one-sentence order directing the defendant “to submit to a risk assessment evaluation conducted by the expert retained by the State of Florida for such evaluation.”

This petition followed. The defendant argues that the order departs from the essential requirements of the law because: (1) no statute or rule authorizes a “risk assessment evaluation” of a defendant adjudicated incompetent; and (2) the order requires her to be examined by a state-retained expert instead of a court-appointed expert on a competency-related issue. We have jurisdiction to consider these arguments because once the evaluation occurs, it cannot be undone on appeal. Cf. Olges v. Dougherty, 856 So.2d 6, 10 (Fla. 1st DCA 2003) (in civil cases, “[ijnter-locutory orders requiring mental examinations are held to cause harm of a kind that [1042]*1042cannot be remedied on appeal from final judgment.... [T]he required element of irreparable harm may be found based on the notion that once the invasive harm of the examination occurs, it cannot be undone on appeal.”) (citations and internal quotations omitted).

On the first argument, we conclude that the circuit court’s one-sentence order describing the evaluation to be conducted as a “risk assessment evaluation” is insufficient as a matter of law. Section 916.13(1), Florida Statutes (2011), authorizes a court to order what may be characterized as a “risk assessment evaluation” of a defendant adjudicated incompetent, but only as part of a broader evaluation of whether the defendant may be involuntarily committed for treatment. Section 916.13(1), entitled “Involuntary commitment of defendant adjudicated incompetent,” provides:

Every defendant who is charged with a felony and who is adjudicated incompetent to proceed may be involuntarily committed for treatment upon a finding by the court of clear and convincing evidence that:
(a)The defendant has a mental illness and because of the mental illness:
1. The defendant is manifestly incapable of surviving alone or with the help of willing and responsible family or friends, including available alternative services, and,, without treatment, the defendant is likely to suffer from neglect or refuse to care for herself or himself and such neglect or refusal poses a real and present threat of substantial harm to the defendant’s well-being; or
2. There is a substantial likelihood that in the near future the defendant will inflict serious bod,ily harm on herself or himself or another person, as evidenced by recent behavior causing, attempting, or threatening such harm;
(b) All available, less restrictive treatment alternatives, including treatment in community residential facilities or community inpatient or outpatient settings, which would offer an opportunity for improvement of the defendant’s condition have been judged to be inappropriate; and
(c) There is a substantial probability that the mental illness causing the defendant’s incompetence will respond to treatment and the defendant will regain competency to proceed in the reasonably foreseeable future.

(emphasis added).

The emphasized language, which may be characterized as a “risk assessment evaluation,” is only part of the broader evaluation authorized under the entirety of section 916.13(1) to determine whether a defendant adjudicated incompetent may be involuntarily committed for treatment. Thus, the circuit court’s one-sentence order describing the evaluation to be conducted as a “risk assessment evaluation” is insufficient as a matter of law. Rather, the order should have described the evaluation as an “involuntary commitment evaluation,” i.e., an evaluation to determine whether the defendant may be involuntarily committed for treatment under section 916.13(1). The order then should have described the scope of the evaluation by tracking verbatim the criteria contained in subsections (a), (b), and (c) of section 916.13(1). Cf Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.210(b)(4) (2011) (order appointing experts to determine whether the defendant is incompetent must: “(A) identify the purpose or purposes of the evaluation, including the nature of the material proceeding, and specify the area or areas of inquiry that should be addressed by the evaluator; (B) specify the legal criteria to be applied; and (C) specify the date by which the report should be submitted and to whom [1043]*1043the report should be submitted.”). See also Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.210(b)(4), Committee Notes 1988 Amendment (rule 3.210(b)(4) requires specificity in the order because such court-appointed experts “often do not understand the specific purpose of their examination or the specifics of the legal criteria to be applied.”).

On the second argument, we agree with the defendant that the order improperly requires her to be examined by a state-retained expert instead of a court-appointed expert on a competency-related issue. As our supreme court stated in Caraballo v. State, 39 So.3d 1234 (Fla.2010):

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Bluebook (online)
88 So. 3d 1040, 2012 WL 1934462, 2012 Fla. App. LEXIS 8743, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/yancy-v-state-fladistctapp-2012.