United States District Court, M.D. Alabama, Northern Division
OPINION AND ORDER
MYRON
H. THOMPSON UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE.
This
case is once again before the court on the question whether
defendant Eldrick Deon McNeal has the mental capacity to
stand trial--specifically, whether he is “presently
suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering him
mentally incompetent to the extent that he is unable to
understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings
against him or to assist properly in his defense.” 18
U.S.C. § 4241(a).
The
government's and McNeal's experts agreed that McNeal
is currently incompetent to stand trial. Based on the
evidence in the record and the testimony presented at a
competency hearing held on March 29, 2019, the court
concludes by a preponderance of the evidence that McNeal is
once again not mentally competent. The court will therefore
recommit him to the custody of the United States Bureau of
Prisons (BOP) for no longer than 120 days, beginning on March
29, 2019, “to determine whether there is a substantial
probability that in the foreseeable future he will attain the
capacity to permit the proceedings to go forward.” 18
U.S.C. § 4241(d)(1).
I.
BACKGROUND
On
multiple occasions in this case, McNeal was found incompetent
to stand trial and sent to a BOP medical center for
competency restoration therapy. See United States v.
McNeal, No. 2:15cr199-MHT, 2018 WL 3023092 (M.D. Ala.
June 18, 2018) (Thompson, J.); United States v.
McNeal, No. 2:15cr199-MHT, 2017 WL 2399578 (M.D. Ala.
June 2, 2017) (Thompson, J.); United States v.
McNeal, No. 2:15cr199-MHT, 2016 WL 756570 (M.D. Ala.
Feb. 26, 2016) (Thompson, J.).
Most
recently in this case, on June 18, 2018, the court found
McNeal incompetent and recommitted him to a BOP medical
facility in Butner, North Carolina for restoration therapy.
In January 2019, a Butner clinician, Dr. Adeirdre Stribling
Riley, submitted a report to the court concluding that McNeal
met diagnostic criteria for antisocial personality disorder;
borderline intellectual functioning; adjustment disorder with
anxiety; and several substance abuse disorders, but that he
was competent to stand trial. See Forensic
Evaluation (doc. no. 207) at 11, 14. The court set a
restoration hearing for February 22 but, due to logistical
problems, had to continue the hearing to March 29.
However,
in the meantime, defense counsel informed the court that his
expert, psychiatrist Dr. Hans Stelmach, had evaluated McNeal
on February 20 and concluded that he suffered from
schizoaffective disorder and was currently incompetent to
stand trial. See Psychiatric Evaluation (doc. no.
235-1) at 6-7. On March 25, BOP forensic psychologist
Stribling Riley informed the government that McNeal, as a
result of medication noncompliance, was no longer competent
and was now presenting as symptomatic. On March 28, she
submitted a psychiatric report to that effect. See
Forensic Evaluation (doc. no. 241) at 11. The court held a
competency hearing on March 29, during which Dr. Stribling
Riley testified that McNeal is currently not competent to
proceed due to noncompliance with his psychotropic medication
regimen. She testified, however, that, he had recently
complied with two administrations of his medication, and
that, according to McNeal's BOP psychiatrist, McNeal
needs to take a therapeutic level of medication for about two
to three months before significant improvement is made. Dr.
Stribling Riley requested 120 days for restoration efforts,
and the court orally granted her request.
II.
LEGAL STANDARD
“[I]f
there is reasonable cause to believe” that a defendant
may currently be mentally incompetent to stand trial, a court
may, upon motion of a party or sua sponte, order a
competency hearing. 18 U.S.C. § 4241(a). “If,
after the hearing, the court finds by a preponderance of the
evidence that the defendant is presently suffering from a
mental disease or defect rendering him mentally incompetent
to the extent that he is unable to understand the nature and
consequences of the proceedings against him or to assist
properly in his defense, the court shall commit the defendant
to the custody of the Attorney General, ” who shall
hospitalize the defendant for treatment. Id. §
4241(d). An initial treatment period may last “for such
a reasonable period of time, not to exceed four months, as is
necessary to determine whether there is a substantial
probability that in the foreseeable future he will attain the
capacity to permit the proceedings to go forward.”
Id. § 4241(d)(1).
Courts
apply a two-part test to determine competency. See Bundy
v. Dugger, 850 F.2d 1402, 1408 (11th Cir. 1988). First
the district court determines whether “the defendant
suffer[s] from a clinically recognized disorder[].”
Id. If the defendant does, then the court determines
whether “that disorder render[s] the defendant
incompetent under” the test for incompetency
established by the Supreme Court in Dusky v. United
States, 362 U.S. 402, 402 (1960). Bundy, 850
F.2d at 1408. The Dusky test asks whether
the defendant “has sufficient present ability to
consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational
understanding--and whether he has a rational as well as
factual understanding of the proceedings against him.”
Dusky, 362 U.S. at 402.
The law
is unsettled on which party bears the burden of proof as to
competency. See United States v. Tatum, No.
2:18cr109-MHT, 2019 WL 150551, at *2 (M.D. Ala. Jan. 4, 2019)
(Thompson, J.). Nonetheless, the court need not resolve this
open question if the outcome would be the same regardless.
See id.
III.
DISCUSSION
Based
on Dr. Stribling Riley's forensic report of March 28,
2019; Dr. Stelmach's psychiatric evaluation of February
20; the representations made by Dr. Stribling Riley during
the hearing on March 29; and the evidence in the record in
this case regarding McNeal's history of mental
incompetency and decompensations, the court concludes that
McNeal is again incompetent to proceed at this time.
A.
Clinically ...