McLaren v. State

407 P.3d 1200

Steven Dean MCLAREN, Appellant (Defendant),

v.The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee (Plaintiff).

S-17-0010

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

December 28, 2017

Representing Appellant: Office of the State Public Defender: Diane M. Lozano, State Public Defender; Tina N. Olson^* , Chief Appellate Counsel; Kirk A. Morgan, Senior Assistant Appellate Counsel. Argument by Ms. Olson.

Representing Appellee: Peter K. Michael, Wyoming Attorney General; David L. Delicath, Deputy Attorney General; Christyne M. Martens, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Katherine A. Adams, Assistant Attorney General. Argument by Ms. Adams.

Before BURKE, C.J., and HILL, DAVIS, FOX, and KAUTZ, JJ.

FOX, Justice.

[¶1] Steven D. McLaren challenges convictions for five felonies stemming from a bizarre and violent encounter with his girlfriend in March of 2014. He claims that the trial court violated his due process rights when it failed to order a third competency evaluation and when it allowed defense counsel to assert a plea of not guilty by reason of mental illness (NGMI) against his will. He also argues that the jury instructions contained structural error because they did not require the State to prove he did not act in a sudden heat of passion to establish attempted second-degree murder and that the trial court abused its discretion when it denied defense counsel's motion for mistrial after Mr. McLaren's outburst during trial. We conclude that, while the trial court did not improperly fail to order a competency hearing, it violated Mr. McLaren's due process rights when, in spite of Mr. McLaren's numerous declarations that he did not wish to proceed with the NGMI plea, it allowed defense counsel to assert the plea at trial. We reverse and remand.

ISSUES

[¶2] We reorder and rephrase the issues as follows:

1. Did the trial court violate Mr. McLaren's constitutional rights when it failed to suspend the proceedings on its own motion and request a competency evaluation?

2. Did constitutional error occur when trial counsel proceeded on a not guilty by reason of mental illness plea against the will of his client?

3. Did structural error occur in connection with Mr. McLaren's attempted second-degree murder conviction because the jury instructions did not indicate that the State had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. McLaren did not act in a sudden heat of passion?

4. Did the trial court abuse its discretion when it denied the defense's motion for a mistrial after Mr. McLaren jumped up from his chair, moved toward the jury and the door, and yelled expletives in the presence of the jury?

[¶3] We address the first and second issues because of the interplay between competency and the NGMI plea. Our ruling on the second issue is dispositive. Therefore, we address the third issue only to a limited extent to provide guidance on remand and we do not reach the last issue. See Sadler v. State , 2016 WY 56, ¶ 2, 375 P.3d 728, 728 (Wyo. 2016) ; Thomas v. State , 2003 WY 53, ¶ 30, 67 P.3d 1199, 1206 (Wyo. 2003).

FACTS

[¶4] Mr. McLaren owned 57 cats. He and his girlfriend, Jennifer Evans, referred to the cats as their "kids" or "the kid." On March 10, 2014, one of Mr. McLaren's exotic Savannah kittens, Cameo, was sick, so he and Ms. Evans took it to a veterinary clinic for treatment. Mr. McLaren testified that he had injected "somewhere between a quarter and a third of a gram" of methamphetamine right before he noticed Cameo was ill, had not slept for days, and had been experiencing hallucinations since the night before. He was under the impression that Ms. Evans was attempting to harm or kill the kitten.

[¶5] After leaving Cameo at the veterinary clinic, they went to a convenience store where Mr. McLaren purchased a pack of cigarettes. The convenience store clerk testified that Mr. McLaren's behavior "threw a red flag," he was "pacing back and forth, walking just a little weird," and she kept an eye on him because she thought he was going to steal something. After Mr. McLaren left the convenience store, he and Ms. Evans drove around a nearby neighborhood looking at houses. Ms. Evans testified that at that time Mr. McLaren was "normal" and did not appear to be mad at her, but that they were "upset about the cat."

[¶6] When they left the neighborhood, they stopped at a stop sign. According to Ms. Evans, that was when Mr. McLaren started acting "weird." Mr. McLaren turned to Ms. Evans and said, "I know what you did. You bathed in their blood." He then headed northbound on Yellowstone Road toward Highway 191, driving erratically, hitting speeds of over eighty miles per hour. He drove on the wrong side of the road, nearly colliding head-on with two separate vehicles and causing both to veer off the road. He called Ms. Evans names and told her that she "needed to pay for [her] sins." Mr. McLaren told Ms. Evans that she "was going to die" and that she "wasn't going to live to see tomorrow." He asked her why she killed their neighbors and told her he could smell their blood on her body.

[¶7] Mr. McLaren continued driving north on Highway 191, coming to a stop in the southbound lane in front of an oncoming Pepsi truck. Ms. Evans attempted to get out of Mr. McLaren's truck, but he pulled her by her hair back into the truck and locked the doors, telling her that her "kids deserved a better mother" and that she "was going to die today." The Pepsi truck swerved around them, and Mr. McLaren turned off Highway 191, onto Wild Horse Loop. As he drove down Wild Horse Loop, Ms. Evans fought with Mr. McLaren and continued to attempt to get out, kicking the truck into park several times. Mr. McLaren also continued to hit and punch Ms. Evans; he grabbed her throat and forced her to the floorboard of the truck.

[¶8] Mr. McLaren stopped the truck and hit Ms. Evans three times in the head with a Maglite flashlight that contained no batteries. There is conflicting testimony about whether he hit her while he was in the driver's seat of the truck or whether he hit her after he walked around to the passenger side of the truck. In any event, Mr. McLaren ultimately opened the passenger door and Ms. Evans fell out of the truck. Ms. Evans testified that Mr. McLaren stood over her, pulled her head to the left and the right, "trying to rip my head off," and then let go. As soon as Mr. McLaren released her, Ms. Evans got up and ran toward Highway 191, where a truck stopped to assist her. When Ms. Evans arrived at the emergency room, she had two lacerations on her head and numerous bruises.

[¶9] Mr. McLaren testified that the night before these events transpired, he saw a roe deer jump over his truck and that he saw "what looked like a woman with like the top of a deer, the color of deer, and real long black hair, and I don't know how or why, but I got it in my head all of a sudden that it was something like a 'jagula' or a devil woman, and I was kind of like really freaked out." He also testified that "[a]ll the time in the truck, I was ... seeing this [jagula] but it was kind of out of my peripheral vision. If I looked at [Ms. Evans], I didn't see anything like that. I seen [Ms. Evans]." Mr. McLaren described driving past the truck that had stopped to help Ms. Evans after she ran away, stating that he "started seeing something out of [his] peripheral vision" and "took off." He then drove to a spot in the desert where he had a 360-degree view because he was "freaking out." Mr. McLaren testified that "I had in my mind that there was—there was a 'jagular' or devil woman or a feline creature that wasn't just a cat, and ... I don't know where it came from." He also testified that he saw a "jagula" in his truck. Mr. McLaren described a vision he had while he was in the desert: "I remember I seen something so fantastic at the bull works. ... I can see the four pillars out at bull works, and then the side of an arch, it was perfect, and I couldn't believe what I was seeing .... I honestly believe that it's preflood." The sheriff who arrived on scene testified that when he first made contact with Mr. McLaren, he "seemed to be rambling" and that "he was saying something about aliens that were jumping from sagebrush to sagebrush in front of him as he was faced looking out across the desert," but that he did not appear to be confused and he was able to follow commands.

[¶10] Mr. McLaren was charged with five felonies: attempted second-degree murder, strangulation of a household member, two counts of aggravated assault, and kidnapping.¹ The procedural history is complex, due in large part to competency evaluations and hearings on Mr. McLaren's counsel's motions to withdraw, which will be discussed in greater detail as they become relevant to the issues raised in this appeal. Suffice it to say that Mr. McLaren underwent two competency evaluations, one ordered by the circuit court in March of 2014, which was completed in June of 2014, and one ordered by the district court on the eve of a December 2015 trial date, completed in February of 2016. At both evaluations, Mr. McLaren was found competent to proceed. Mr. McLaren was also evaluated in February of 2015 and April of 2015 regarding his criminal responsibility after defense counsel filed a motion to change his plea to NGMI.

[¶11] A five-day jury trial commenced on April 11, 2016, and the jury found Mr. McLaren guilty on all counts. Mr. McLaren was sentenced to consecutive terms in prison of not less than twenty-four to twenty-eight years on attempted second-degree murder, four to five years for strangulation of a household member, eight to ten years on each aggravated assault count, and twenty-four years to twenty-eight years for kidnapping. Mr. McLaren timely filed this appeal.

[¶12] Additional facts will be discussed as they relate to the issues Mr. McLaren raises.

DISCUSSION

I. Did the trial court violate Mr. McLaren's constitutional rights when it failed to suspend the proceedings on its own motion and request a competency evaluation?

[¶13] Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 7-11-302 (...