Maziarz v. U.S.

312 A.3d 1234

Ronald MAZIARZ, Appellant,

v.UNITED STATES, Appellee.

No. 22-CM-0898

District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Argued March 5, 2024

Decided April 11, 2024

Appeal from the Superior Court of the District of Columbia (2021-CMD-004515), (Hon. Robert D. Okun, Trial Judge)

Jason K. Clark, for appellant.

Steven B. Snyder, Assistant United States Attorney, with whom Matthew M. Graves, United States Attorney, and Chrisellen R. Kolb and John P. Mannarino, Assistant United States Attorneys, were on the brief, for appellee.

Before Blackburne-Rigsby, Chief Judge, Deahl, Associate Judge, and Glickman, Senior Judge.

Blackburne-Rigsby, Chief Judge:

In August 2021, Ronald Maziarz was charged with one count of simple assault and one count of possession of a prohibited weapon after he assaulted a taxi cab driver with a hammer. After initially being found incompetent—and later competent—to proceed to trial, Mr. Maziarz was transferred to Mental Health Community Court ("MHCC") where he was offered an agreement in which he would plead guilty in exchange for deferred sentencing. Under the terms of the plea agreement, Mr. Maziarz’s charges would be dismissed if he remained compliant with the requirements of MHCC for four months. At the MHCC hearing, Mr. Maziarz testified that he had assaulted the driver because he was possessed by demons. The MHCC judge said that he could not accept Mr. Maziarz’s plea unless he took full responsibility for his actions, noted multiple times that Mr. Maziarz might have a valid insanity defense, and transferred the case back to misdemeanor court. A third competency evaluation found Mr. Maziarz competent to proceed to trial and, after a bench trial, Mr. Maziarz was found guilty of simple assault and possession of a prohibited weapon.

On appeal, Mr. Maziarz argues that the trial court erred in failing to conduct a Frendak inquiry¹ into whether he intelligently and voluntarily waived the insanity defense. He also argues that the trial court erred in failing to obtain a written and oral waiver of his right to a jury trial. We agree with Mr. Maziarz and hold that the pre-trial evidence raised a substantial question of Mr. Maziarz’s sanity at the time of the offense such that the trial judge should have conducted a Frendak inquiry. Further we hold that, because the possession of a prohibited weapon charge carries a possible penalty of more than six months’ incarceration and, thus, requires a jury trial, the trial court erred in not obtaining a written and oral waiver of Mr. Maziarz’s right to a jury trial. Accordingly, we remand for the trial court to conduct a Frendak inquiry and, depending on its outcome, either vacate both convictions or reverse only the possession of a prohibited weapon charge and enter a judgment for the lesser charge of attempted possession of a prohibited weapon, which does not require a jury trial.

I. Factual Background & Procedural History

A. The Assault

On Sunday, August 8, 2021, sixty-one year-old Ronald Maziarz approached Mulushewa Alemu’s taxi cab and asked to be driven to 1845 Harvard Street. Once at the address, Mr. Maziarz asked Mr. Alemu to wait while he went inside. Mr. Maziarz returned a few minutes later with one or two bags, told Mr. Alemu that he had been kicked out of his apartment, and asked to be taken to a shelter on New York Avenue. After driving for a little while, Mr. Maziarz asked Mr. Alemu to turn around and take him back to Harvard Street; Mr. Maziarz told Mr. Alemu that he may be able to stay with someone else.

Once back at Harvard Street, Mr. Alemu parked the car and Mr. Maziarz opened one of his bags. "[A]fter a little while," Mr. Maziarz struck Mr. Alemu with a hammer a few times, causing Mr. Alemu to lose consciousness. When he regained consciousness, Mr. Alemu straggled with Mr. Maziarz, but was able to gain control of the hammer and shout for someone to call 911. At this point, Mr. Maziarz stayed in the cab while Mr. Alemu hit the cab with the hammer and yelled at Mr. Maziarz in an effort to keep Mr. Maziarz from exiting the vehicle. A passerby who heard the commotion asked another passerby to call the police. When the police sirens were audible, Mr. Maziarz exited the cab, put a backpack on the ground, and sat on the bag.

Officer Martinez responded to the scene and saw Mr. Maziarz sitting on what he described as a luggage bag. Mr. Maziarz told Officer Martinez that he was depressed.

B. Pretrial Proceedings

On August 9, 2021, Mr. Maziarz appeared for his initial presentment hearing before Magistrate Judge Judith Pipe. During the proceeding, Mr. Maziarz responded "[n]o, ma’am" when asked whether he understood his rights; commented that he could not come back to court due to being homeless and malnourished; and stated that "his resistance was low" when asked to return to the courthouse the following day to speak to the doctors at the urgent care clinic.

At the initial status hearing before Judge Wellner on November 15, 2021, Mr. Maziarz’s trial counsel, Jose Molina, informed the court that Mr. Maziarz was absent because he had been involuntarily committed into Washington Hospital Center. The status hearing was rescheduled for February 7, 2022.

At the February 7, 2022 status hearing, Mr. Molina informed the court that Mr. Maziarz had been discharged from the mental health wing of Washington Hospital Center on January 4th, 2022. The court was also informed that Mr. Maziarz did not have a phone and that his community support worker would be coordinating his ability to appear in court.

On February 25, 2022, Mr. Molina requested a preliminary competency evaluation from the Department of Behavioral Health ("DBH") to which the government did not object. The evaluation was conducted on March 10 by Elizabeth Teegarden, PhD and consisted of a 45-minute interview and a review of Mr. Maziarz’s medical records. The report found that Mr. Maziarz was engaged in dedicated mental care services, was diagnosed with unspecified psychosis (according to DBH’s computerized information system), and experienced anxiety, depression, and paranoia. Dr. Teegarden also noted that, when she asked about the not guilty by reason of insanity plea, Mr. Maziarz responded, "[t]hat’s what happened to me," and that he "sometimes feels ‘insane.’ " Ultimately, Dr. Teegarden found that Mr. Maziarz was incompetent to proceed with trial because he did not possess sufficient factual and rational understanding of the legal process or sufficient present ability to consult and work with his attorney with a reasonable degree of rational understanding.

On March 18, 2022, Judge Wellner ordered a full competency screening from DBH upon finding that, consistent with the initial screening, Mr. Maziarz appeared to be incompetent to stand trial. The second evaluation was conducted by Lia N. Rohlehr, PhD, ABPP on April 4, 2022, and consisted of a 30-minute interview. Dr. Rohlehr found that Mr. Maziarz was receiving monthly antipsychotic medication and remained cooperative and in behavioral control (but appeared depressed and anxious). Ultimately, Dr. Rohlehr determined that Mr. Maziarz was competent to proceed to trial because he was able to discuss his case and the legal system in a coherent manner, and because his mental illness "should not prevent him from learning or communicating effectively."

On April 29, 2022, consistent with the DBH evaluation, Judge Wellner found that Mr. Maziarz was competent to proceed to trial. Judge Wellner also introduced the potential for Mr. Maziarz to be screened for Mental Health Community Court ("MHCC"). On June 10, the court was informed that Mr. Maziarz was eligible for Mental Health Supervision and Mr. Maziarz was transferred to the MHCC calendar.

At the initial MHCC hearing on June 26, 2022, Judge Iscoe, the presiding judge, explained that, while in MHCC, Mr. Maziarz would have to take regular drug and alcohol testing and follow the requirements of mental health services. Additionally, the government offered Mr. Maziarz a deferred sentencing agreement. The government also raised concerns about Mr. Maziarz’s competence and ability to voluntarily and knowingly enter a plea, but Mr. Molina stated that he did not think there was a competency issue.

At the June 28, 2022 hearing, the court was informed that Mr. Maziarz remained fully compliant with his supervision requirements. The government also informed the court of the plea agreement, which was that, in exchange for Mr. Maziarz pleading guilty to simple assault, the government would defer sentencing "for a period of four months starting today." If Mr. Maziarz continued to comply with all of the conditions of MHCC, he would be allowed to withdraw his guilty plea at the end of the four months and his case would be dismissed.

By the MHCC hearing on August 4, 2022, Mr. Maziarz had remained compliant with MHCC conditions and was determined eligible to enter his plea agreement. While under oath, Mr. Maziarz stated—for the first time in the record—that he hit Mr. Alemu with the hammer because he was possessed by demons and was being controlled by some kind of force that he could not stop. In response, Judge Iscoe noted that he could only accept the plea if Mr. Maziarz was willing to accept responsibility. Judge Iscoe then mentioned four times that he thought there might be a valid insanity defense available, and transferred the case back to misdemeanor court.

On August 24, 2022, Judge Wellner, once again the presiding judge over Mr. Maziarz’s case, expressed concern about Mr. Maziarz’s competence to proceed to trial, noting that demonic possession strongly suggests a potential competency issue. The government shared this concern and Judge Wellner ordered another competency screening. The competency screening took place on August 29, 2022, lasted 25 minutes, and was conducted by Dr. Rohlehr, who found Mr. Maziarz competent to proceed to trial. The court adopted this determination in the September 7, 2022 hearing. During...