Summary
The Tenth Circuit considers whether a district court may hospitalize an incompetent and unrestorable criminal defendant for a dangerousness evaluation under 18 U.S.C. §§ 4241 and 4246 after a prior competency-related hospitalization has ended. The court holds that the district court lawfully ordered temporary hospitalization for a precertification dangerousness evaluation and possible certification. It reverses, as premature and beyond the district court’s authority, the portion ordering a formal examination and report under § 4246(b), because that authority belongs to a court in the district where the hospital is located.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether a district court may temporarily hospitalize a defendant for a precertification dangerousness evaluation under 18 U.S.C. § 4246(a) after the defendant's competency-restoration hospitalization has ended and the defendant has been found incompetent and unrestorable under § 4241(d).
- Whether § 4246(a)'s references to a person who 'is hospitalized' and who 'has been committed to the custody of the Attorney General pursuant to section 4241(d)' require continuous hospitalization or custody through the competency and dangerousness proceedings.
- Whether the district court that orders temporary hospitalization may also order a psychiatric or psychological examination and report under § 4246(b) before a § 4246(a) certificate is issued, and when the hospital is located in another judicial district.
Holdings
- When a defendant has been found incompetent and unrestorable for trial, he reaches the end of the competency-treatment period specified in § 4241(d) and becomes subject to § 4246. The district court therefore has authority to order temporary hospitalization for a reasonable period to permit a hospital director to evaluate the defendant for possible dangerousness certification under § 4246(a).
- Section 4246(a) does not require an unbroken hospitalization for competency and dangerousness proceedings. 'Is hospitalized' requires that the defendant be evaluated in person at a facility, and 'has been committed' means that the defendant was previously committed to the Attorney General's custody under § 4241(d); a second, temporary hospitalization for a different purpose is permissible.
- A district court may not order a psychiatric or psychological examination and report under § 4246(b), or any other § 4246 proceeding, before a § 4246(a) dangerousness certificate has been issued. When a certificate is issued, the court in the district where the hospital is located—not necessarily the court that ordered the initial hospitalization—determines whether to order the § 4246(b) examination and report.
Key quotations
“As soon as Coad became “subject to” § 4246, the district court gained the authority to do what it did.” (14)
“But there can be no § 4246(b) examination and report—or any other § 4246 proceeding—without a § 4246(a) certificate.” (21)
Factual background
Coad has a long history of serious mental illness and criminal conduct. Beginning in 2007, he repeatedly sent violent and sexually explicit letters to a former state prosecutor, leading to a federal indictment for four counts of mailing threatening communications. After competency-restoration hospitalization temporarily restored his competency through medication, Coad stopped taking the medication, was again found incompetent, and was determined to be unrestorable for trial.
Procedural history
A federal grand jury indicted Coad on four counts of mailing threatening communications. The district court found him incompetent to stand trial, committed him for competency-restoration treatment under 18 U.S.C. § 4241(d), later found him incompetent and unrestorable, and ordered hospitalization for a dangerousness evaluation under § 4246. The Tenth Circuit affirmed the hospitalization order under § 4246(a), reversed the portion ordering a § 4246(b) examination and report, and remanded.
Remand instructions
Affirm the temporary hospitalization for possible dangerousness certification under § 4246(a), reverse the order directing a § 4246(b) examination and report, and remand for further proceedings consistent with the opinion.