Durgan v. State
Durgan v. State
Opinion of the Court
OPINION
delivered the opinion of the Court
In 2001, appellant plead guilty to delivery of less than one gram of cocaine in a drug-free zone, i.e. within 1,000 feet of the premises of an elementary school. Pursuant to a plea agreement, the trial court deferred appellant’s adjudication and placed her on five years’ community supervision. The terms of supervision included a requirement that appellant take any medication prescribed by the Mental Health/Mental Retardation Center or by her physician, and that she submit to a “TAIP Evaluation and any recommended treatment program that they recommend[.]” Approximately two years later, the state filed a motion to adjudicate based on allegations that appellant had violated her community supervision. As part of an order imposing additional terms of supervision, the trial court ordered appellant to reside in a “Special Needs Substance Abuse Felony Punishment Facility” for a period not to exceed one year and continued her on supervision. In 2004, the state filed a second motion to adjudicate, which alleged that appellant had failed to attend and successfully complete the substance-abuse-treatment facility’s requirements. The trial court found that appellant had violated the terms and conditions of her community supervision as alleged, found her guilty, and sentenced her to ten years’ imprisonment.
Appellant filed a motion for reconsideration, or in the alternative, a new trial. That motion asserted that the judgment and sentence should be set aside and a new trial granted because new and material evidence showing appellant’s history of mental and behavioral problems had been discovered since trial, and that, pursuant to Tex.Code CRIm. PROC. article 46B.003, such evidence raised an issue regarding whether appellant was competent at the time of the hearing on the motion to adjudicate guilt. During a hearing on the motion for new trial, the trial court admitted into evidence records which “consist of several evaluations, psychological, social history, and developmental assessments” concerning appellant’s status, and all of which included an introductory heading of “Determination of Mental Retardation.” The trial judge also heard testimony from several witnesses, some of whom supported a conclusion of mild to moderate mental retardation for appellant. After the hearing, the trial court denied appellant’s motion and entered an order reflecting that appellant’s motion be in all things denied.
On appeal, appellant raised several points of error, including a claim that the trial court erred in not having appellant evaluated to determine if she was competent to answer the allegations raised during a revocation hearing. The court of
Ground for Review
We granted appellant’s sole ground for review. Appellant asserts that “the [cjourt of [ajppeals erred in not considering the competency of the defendant or staying the proceedings for the purpose of conducting a competency review by an expert at the time the trial court was placed on notice that she lacked the competency to stand trial or assist her counsel in the hearing.” Based on the arguments in appellant’s brief, we interpret this ground as alleging that the court of appeals had jurisdiction to consider her competence claim and should have considered its merits.
Argument
Appellant contends that the court of appeals and the trial court erred by not considering the issue of her competence under Chapter 46B of the Code of Criminal Procedure. She argues that, while under Chapter 46B the legislature “has mandated to the courts a duty to conduct an informal inquiry whether there is some evidence from any source that the defendant is incompetent to stand trial,” if the defendant accepts deferred adjudication “the Legislature has taken away the defendant’s ability to appeal the failure of the trial court to follow through with its mandated duty to determine if a defendant is incompetent.”
She argues that the competence inquiry and any further required competence proceedings under Chapter 46B are separate and distinct from the decision to proceed with an adjudication of guilt, and there is no less a duty for the court to follow Article 46B.004(c)’s directive that “[ojn suggestion that the defendant may be incompetent to stand trial, the court shall determine by informal inquiry whether there is some evidence from any source that would support a finding that the defendant may be incompetent to stand trial.” She asserts that these dual statutory duties should have separate appellate review, lest incompetent persons be adjudicated guilty of crimes without due-process protection. Appellant asserts that there is no conflict in the law, but rather that “[tjhere are constitutional due process protections to insure that only competent persons are adjudicated guilty of crimes.” She adds that, in this case, her constitutional rights “were violated when the trial court failed to stay the proceeding to have her examined[,j and the appellate court erred by not reviewing this issue.”
The state argues that, pursuant to Tex. Code Chim. PROC. art. 42.12 § 5(b), appellant is precluded from appealing the trial court’s decision to adjudicate guilt following deferred-adjudication community supervision. It asserts that, therefore, the court of appeals correctly determined that it could not consider appellant’s claim because it required a review of a decision to adjudicate.
Analysis
Article 42.12 § 5(b) does preclude appellate review of a decision to adjudicate; upon violation of a condition of deferred-adjudication community supervision, a defendant is entitled to a hearing limited to the court’s determination of whether it should proceed with an adjudication of guilt on the original charge, and “[njo appeal may be taken from this determina
An assertion that a defendant was not competent at the time of the adjudication hearing is such a complaint; it raises a preliminary due-process issue that must be resolved before the adjudication process may begin.
With respect to its decision regarding its lack of jurisdiction over appellant’s competence claim, we reverse the judgment of the court of appeals and remand to that court to consider the merits of appellant’s competence claim.
. An amendment to this statute in 2007 removed this limitation and permits an appeal of a court’s decision to proceed to an adjudication of guilt. SB 909, 80th Leg., Reg. Sess. (Tex. 2007), effective June 15, 2007.
. See Cooper v. Oklahoma, 517 U.S. 348, 354, 116 S.Ct. 1373, 134 L.Ed.2d 498 (1996).
. This is not to say that, if the terms and conditions of deferred adjudication require participation in therapy programs designed to restore and maintain competence, failure to participate in those programs cannot be a basis for proceeding to adjudication.
Dissenting Opinion
filed a dissenting opinion.
I respectfully dissent. The majority’s holding that the court of appeals erred in holding that it lacked jurisdiction to consider Durgan’s competency claim under Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 42.12, Section 5(b) is at odds with our case law interpreting the prohibition against appeal from a trial judge’s determination to proceed with adjudication of guilt.
The Due Process Clause to the United States Constitution prohibits the conviction of an incompetent defendant.
Article 42.12, Section 5 governs community supervision when adjudication of guilt is deferred.
In Williams v. State, we held that we did not have jurisdiction to consider the appellant’s claim that the evidence was insufficient to revoke probation and adjudicate guilt.
Less than a month after Phynes, in Olo-wosuko v. State, we held that the court of appeals’s dismissal of the appellant’s claims challenging the trial court’s decision to proceed with adjudication of guilt was correct.
In Connolly v. State, we relied on Williams, Phynes, and Olowosuko in holding that “Article 42.12, § 5, prohibited the appellant from raising a claim of error (insufficiency of the evidence to prove due diligence [to apprehend him and hold a revocation hearing]) in the adjudication of guilt process.”
More recently, in Hogans v. State, we held that “a court of appeals has jurisdiction to consider the merits of a claim that temporally arises before the act of adjudication if the claim directly and distinctly related to punishment rather than the decision to adjudicate.”
There, the appellant claimed that his adjudication counsel rendered ineffective assistance by calling his children to testify during the adjudication hearing.
In evaluating the appellant’s specific claim of ineffective assistance, we determined that it did “not directly and distinctly affect only the ‘second phase’ ” because the trial judge considered the testimony from the appellant’s children when adjudicating guilt.
Finally, in Davis v. State, the appellant claimed that the trial court did not have jurisdiction to adjudicate guilt because he did not have counsel when the trial court extended the term of his supervision.
Without discussing these cases, the majority holds that appellate courts have jurisdiction to review a claim of incompetency at adjudication because competency is “separate and distinct from the decision to adjudicate.”
The issue of competency at the time of the adjudication hearing is part of the trial judge’s determination to proceed with adjudication of guilt and therefore is not appealable. When a trial judge finds a defendant competent, that finding, like jurisdiction
. Pate v. Robinson, 383 U.S. 375, 378, 86 S.Ct. 836, 15 L.Ed.2d 815 (1966).
. Cooper v. Oklahoma, 517 U.S. 348, 354, 116 S.Ct. 1373, 134 L.Ed.2d 498 (1996) (quoting Dusky v. United States, 362 U.S. 402, 402, 80 S.Ct. 788, 4 L.Ed.2d 824 (1960) (per curiam)).
. Robinson, 383 U.S. at 385, 86 S.Ct. 836.
. Id. at 384, 86 S.Ct. 836; see also Marin v. State, 851 S.W.2d 275, 278-80 (Tex.Crim.App. 1993).
. TexCode Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 42.12 § 5 (Vernon 2006).
. TexCode Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 42.12 § 5(b).
. Phynes v. State, 828 S.W.2d 1, 2 (Tex.Crim.App. 1992); Marin, 851 S.W.2d at 277-78.
. TexCode Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 42.12 § 5(b).
. Id.
. Hogans v. State, 176 S.W.3d 829, 833 (Tex.Crim.App. 2005) (citing Kirtley v. State, 56 S.W.3d 48, 51 (Tex.Crim.App. 2001)).
. Davis v. State, 195 S.W.3d 708, 710 (Tex.Crim.App. 2006) (quoting Olowosuko v. State, 826 S.W.2d 940, 941 (Tex.Crim.App. 1992)).
. 592 S.W.2d 931, 932-33 (Tex.Crim.App. 1979).
. Id.
. 592 S.W.2d 604, 605-06 (Tex.Crim.App. 1980).
. 608 S.W.2d 924, 927-28 (Tex.Crim.App. 1980).
. 615 S.W.2d 771, 771 (Tex.Crim.App. 1981).
. 828 S.W.2d 1, 2 (Tex.Crim.App. 1992).
. Olowosuko v. State, No. 5-90-00105-CR (Tex.App.-Dallas Dec. 4, 1990) (per curiam) (not designated for publication).
. Olowosuko, 826 S.W.2d at 942.
. 983 S.W.2d 738, 741 (Tex.Crim.App. 1999).
. Id. at 832.
. Id.
. Id. at 833 (citing Phynes, 828 S.W.2d at 2; Olowosuko, 826 S.W.2d at 942 n. 2).
. Id. (citing Kirtley, 56 S.W.3d at 51).
. Id. at 833-34, 835.
. Id. at 834.
. Id.
. Id. at 835.
. Id.
. Id. at 709.
. Id.
. Id. at 710.
. Id.
. Ante, op. at 878.
. Durgan v. State, 192 S.W.3d 884, 887 (Tex.App.-Beaumont 2006).
. Davis, 195 S.W.3d at 712.
. Williams, 592 S.W.2d at 932-33.
. Connolly, 983 S.W.2d at 741 (stating that the trial judge’s "decision on due diligence issue was merely part of its decision to revoke and proceed to judgment!)]”); Phynes, 828 S.W.2d at 2.
. Robinson, 383 U.S. at 378, 86 S.Ct. 836.
. Davis, 195 S.W.3d at 713 (Cochran, J., concurring); see also Cooper v. State, 45 S.W.3d 77, 82 (Tex.Crim.App. 2001) (stating that a plea-bargaining defendant may challenge the voluntariness of his or her plea on habeas even though Rule 52.2(b) prohibits such a claim on direct appeal).
Concurring Opinion
filed a concurring opinion.
I continue to adhere to my position in Hogans v. State that the appealability of a matter under the deferred adjudication statute depends entirely upon the relief sought.
. 176 S.W.3d 829, 837-41 (Tex.Crim.App. 2005)(Keller, P.J., dissenting).
Reference
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- Nakeesha DURGAN, Appellant v. the STATE of Texas
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