United States v. Johnson , 376 F. App'x 858 ( 2010 )

FILED
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
April 27, 2010
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
Elisabeth A. Shumaker
FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT Clerk of Court
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
v. No. 09-2024
(D.C. No. 1:03-CR-00477-MV-1)
ERIC LAMONT JOHNSON, (D. N.M.)
Defendant-Appellant.
ORDER AND JUDGMENT *
Before McKAY, Circuit Judge, BRORBY, Senior Circuit Judge, and EBEL,
Circuit Judge.
Eric Lamont Johnson entered a guilty plea on October 21, 2004, to
possession of a firearm during or in relation to a drug trafficking crime, in
violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A). Prior to sentencing, he filed a pro se
motion to withdraw his plea, which the district court denied. In 2006, he
*
After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined
unanimously to grant the parties’ request for a decision on the briefs without oral
argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(f); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is therefore
ordered submitted without oral argument. This order and judgment is not binding
precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and
collateral estoppel. It may be cited, however, for its persuasive value consistent
with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1 and 10th Cir. R. 32.1.
requested a mental competency evaluation, which was completed in 2008.
Following a hearing, the district court determined that Mr. Johnson was
competent at the time he entered his guilty plea in 2004, as well as at the time of
the hearing. Accordingly, the court proceeded with sentencing, and imposed a
sentence of 180 months in prison. Mr. Johnson challenges his conviction,
asserting that the district court erred in denying his motion to withdraw his guilty
plea and finding him mentally competent. Taking jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C.
§ 1291 and 18 U.S.C. § 3742(a), we affirm.
Background
On March 11, 2003, Mr. Johnson was charged with being a felon in
possession of a firearm, possession with intent to distribute less than 50 kilograms
of marijuana, and possession of a firearm during or in relation to a drug
trafficking crime. Counsel was appointed to represent Mr. Johnson. Over the
course of the proceedings in the district court, Mr. Johnson requested, and was
granted, different counsel numerous times. As a result, his trial date was
rescheduled several times. Prior to an October 25, 2004, trial date, Mr. Johnson
sought permission to proceed pro se. The district court agreed to allow him to
proceed pro se, but directed his then-attorney to act as standby counsel. The
parties and the court then completed pretrial motions and jury selection. Four
days before the trial was set to begin, Mr. Johnson entered a guilty plea to the
charge of possession of a firearm during or in relation to a drug trafficking crime,
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and the remaining charges were dismissed. On November 16, 2004, prior to
sentencing, Mr. Johnson filed a pro se motion to withdraw his plea, which the
district court denied on July 22, 2005. Various circumstances intervened to delay
sentencing. On March 22, 2006, the attorney then representing Mr. Johnson filed
a stipulated motion to evaluate his competency, both at the time he entered his
guilty plea in 2004 and at the time of the motion in order to proceed with
sentencing. Further delays ensued. Eventually, William Foote, Ph.D., a clinical
psychologist, was engaged to evaluate Mr. Johnson’s competency. He prepared a
report based on interviews with various people and review of numerous
documents. He interviewed Mr. Johnson in July of 2008.
A competency hearing was held on December 17, 2008, at which Dr. Foote
testified. At the conclusion of the hearing, the district court ruled that
Mr. Johnson was competent to enter the guilty plea in 2004 and to proceed with
sentencing.
Proceeding through new counsel, Mr. Johnson asserts on appeal that the
district court erred in denying his motion to withdraw his plea. He also contends
he was effectively denied the assistance of counsel at his competency hearing,
thus warranting reversal of his conviction and a new competency hearing.
Motion to Withdraw Guilty Plea
“We review the district court’s denial of a motion to withdraw a guilty plea
for an abuse of discretion.” United States v. Yazzie, 407 F.3d 1139, 1142
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(10th Cir. 2005 (en banc) (quotation omitted). “[U]nless it is shown that the trial
court acted unjustly or unfairly, there is no abuse of discretion.” United States v.
Siedlik, 231 F.3d 744, 748 (10th Cir. 2000) (quotation omitted). Rule 11(d)(2)(B)
of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure provides that a defendant may
withdraw a guilty plea “after the court accepts the plea, but before it imposes
sentence if: . . . the defendant can show a fair and just reason for requesting the
withdrawal.” This court has articulated seven factors for a district court to
consider when entertaining a motion to withdraw a guilty plea. Yazzie, 407 F.3d
at 1142. 1 There is no dispute that the district court addressed these factors, and
our review of the record has confirmed that the court did so in a thorough and
comprehensive order.
Mr. Johnson argues that in denying his motion to withdraw his guilty plea
the district court “failed to consider his mental illness.” Aplt. Opening Br. at 13.
But he does not assert that he placed his mental competency at issue at any time
before March 2006, eight months after the district court denied the motion to
withdraw the guilty plea. In addition, he does not argue that the district court
should have raised the issue sua sponte. We decline to find that the district court
1
The seven factors are: “(1) whether the defendant has asserted his
innocence; (2) whether withdrawal would prejudice the government; (3) whether
the defendant delayed in filing his motion, and if so, the reason for the delay;
(4) whether withdrawal would substantially inconvenience the court; (5) whether
close assistance of counsel was available to the defendant; (6) whether the plea
was knowing and voluntary; and (7) whether the withdrawal would waste judicial
resources.” Yazzie, 407 F.3d at 1142 (quotation omitted).
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abused its discretion in denying the motion to withdraw the guilty plea where the
issue of Mr. Johnson’s mental competency was not raised to the district court
until well after the motion was denied.
Denial of Counsel at Competency Hearing
Although Mr. Johnson was represented by attorney Frederick D. Jones, Jr.
at the competency hearing held on December 17, 2008, he contends that Mr. Jones
did not “test the government’s case in any meaningful way,” id. at 17. Therefore,
he argues that he was effectively denied counsel in violation of the Sixth
Amendment.
A defendant has a right to counsel at every critical state of the proceedings;
a competency hearing is a critical stage. United States v. Collins, 430 F.3d 1260,
1264 (10th Cir. 2005). “The right to the effective assistance of counsel is . . . the
right of the accused to require the prosecution’s case to survive the crucible of
meaningful adversarial testing.” United States v. Cronic, 466 U.S. 648, 656
(1984). Consequently, “if counsel entirely fails to subject the prosecution’s case
to meaningful adversarial testing, then there has been a denial of Sixth
Amendment rights that makes the adversary process itself presumptively
unreliable.” Id. at 659.
This Circuit has been reluctant to find constructive denials of
counsel, and has found a “complete absence of meaningful
adversarial testing only where the evidence ‘overwhelmingly
established that [the] attorney abandoned the required duty of loyalty
to his client,’ and where counsel ‘acted with reckless disregard for
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his client’s best interests and, at times, apparently with the intention
to weaken his client’s case.’” Turrentine [v. Mullin, 390 F.3d 1181,
1208 (10th Cir. 2004)] (quoting Osborn v. Shillinger, 861 F.2d 612,
624 (10th Cir. 1988)).
Collins, 430 F.3d at 1265.
Mr. Johnson asserts that his attorney “hoped to stipulate that Mr. Johnson
was competent,” Aplt. Opening Br. at 10, thus demonstrating that he was
unprepared to proceed with the hearing. In addition, he argues that his attorney
could have asked Dr. Foote various questions to demonstrate that Mr. Johnson
was not competent at the time he entered a guilty plea.
At the competency hearing, Mr. Johnson’s counsel did explain that he and
Mr. Johnson had discussed a stipulation as to Dr. Foote’s report, but did not reach
an agreement. The hearing proceeded, during which counsel cross-examined
Dr. Foote, often referring to Dr. Foote’s report to question his conclusions of
competency. For example, counsel elicited Dr. Foote’s opinions that Mr. Johnson
was not malingering or exaggerating his symptoms and that Mr. Johnson could be
competent one day and not competent the next. R. Vol. 4 at 53-55. In addition,
counsel questioned Dr. Foote on Mr. Johnson’s past psychotic behaviors, such as
suicide attempts and delusions, to suggest that Mr. Johnson was not competent.
In response, Dr. Foote conceded that although he believed Mr. Johnson was
competent as of his interview in July of 2008, he could not say either way as of
the hearing date. Finally, counsel made a closing argument in which he discussed
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the evidence and argued that Mr. Johnson was not competent to enter a guilty plea
or to proceed to sentencing.
Based on our review of the hearing transcript, we conclude that there was
not a complete absence of meaningful adversarial testing, and that Mr. Johnson’s
counsel neither abandoned his duty of loyalty to his client nor acted with reckless
disregard for his client’s best interests. Accordingly, we reject Mr. Johnson’s
claim that he was denied the assistance of counsel at his competency hearing. We
express no opinion on whether his counsel provided constitutionally effective
assistance under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984).
Conclusion
The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.
Entered for the Court
Wade Brorby
Senior Circuit Judge
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