People v. Dean

1

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. DAVID ANTHONY DEAN, Defendant and Appellant.

D081767

California Court of Appeals, Fourth District, First Division

October 25, 2024

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Riverside County No. SWF1500705 Jeffrey J. Prevost, Judge. Reversed and remanded with directions.

Christopher Love, under appointment by the Court of Appeal for Defendant and Appellant.

Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Charles C. Ragland, Assistant Attorney General, Collette C. Cavalier and Nora S. Weyl, Deputy Attorneys General for Plaintiff and Respondent.

McCONNELL, P. J.

In 2015, David Anthony Dean broke into his parents' home and assaulted his father and half-brother with a metal rod. Dean was charged with one count of burglary and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon. Dean pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity (NGI) and, after the guilt phase of his trial, the jury found him guilty of all three counts. In the second phase of trial, the jury rejected Dean's insanity defense. The trial court, however, granted Dean a new sanity trial after finding the jury failed to give proper weight to the testimony of two court-appointed psychologists who opined Dean was not sane when he committed the crimes.

The district attorney who prosecuted the case then unsuccessfully appealed the trial court's ruling. This court found the trial court's decision was supported by ample evidence and conditionally affirmed the new trial order, directing the trial court to consider whether Dean was eligible for mental health diversion in light of recently enacted legislation providing for such relief. Shortly after remand, Dean was found incompetent to stand trial and committed to the Department of State Hospitals (DSH) for a period of around three months. After his competency was restored, Dean filed a motion to represent himself under Faretta v California (1975) 422 U.S. 806 (Faretta), which the court granted. Dean then continued a campaign, which he began after this court's prior remand, of ex parte court filings asserting he had been wrongly convicted and that he was the victim of a wide-ranging conspiracy. Seven months later, unsurprisingly, the court declared a doubt as to Dean's competency and he was committed to the DSH a second time.

Three months after Dean was found to have regained his competency, on January 6, 2022, he again successfully moved under Faretta to represent himself. Thereafter, Dean withdrew his NGI plea. After mental health diversion was denied, Dean continued to argue he was wrongly convicted. Dean's filings and appearances before the court during the year-long period after his Faretta motion was granted clearly evidenced his competency remained in question, but no doubt was declared. In January 2023, the trial court sentenced Dean to 19 years in state prison.

On appeal from the judgment of conviction, Dean argues the court erred by granting his Faretta motions because he was not competent to represent himself at the time they were granted. The Attorney General concedes that Dean's final Faretta motion was improperly granted and asserts the proper remedy is a conditional reversal for the trial court to consider the feasibility of holding a retrospective competency hearing. We agree with the parties that reversal of the judgment is appropriate but conclude that a retrospective competency hearing is not feasible. Accordingly, the judgment is reversed and, if Dean is presently competent to stand trial, the court is directed to consider Dean's eligibility for mental health diversion and then, if necessary, proceed to the sanity phase of trial.

We also address the critical problem of Dean's insistence on selfrepresentation because of his belief that his guilt remains at issue. Dean has twice regained his competency, then been granted a waiver of his right to counsel while "competent," and then decompensated once he was no longer under the supervision of the DSH. We have serious concerns that this pattern will again repeat if Dean is permitted to waive his right to counsel and delay the remaining proceedings.^[1] Thus, we strongly advise the trial court to adjudicate Dean's case as quickly as possible and to be exceedingly circumspect in allowing Dean to exercise his rights under Faretta without any mechanism to ensure his mental health remains stable thereafter.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A

In 2015, Dean's father, stepmother, and their son, D.D lived together in a house in Murrieta. On April 14, 2015, around 11 p.m., D.D. was awakened by a loud crash and Dean slamming open his upstairs bedroom door. Dean walked into the room swinging a three-foot metal pipe. The brothers engaged in a scuffle, and Dean left the room and walked a few stairs down. D.D. grabbed a gun from his room. Dean's father and stepmother heard the commotion and came out of their adjacent bedroom. They saw Dean on the stairs and Dean swung the metal pipe at his father. Dean's father raised his arm to block the blow and the pipe struck his arm. Dean's father fell down the stairs and could not walk. His face and arm were bleeding. Dean's stepmother called 911.

D.D. came out of his room with his gun, saw Dean lying on his back on the stair's landing area, and pointed the gun at him. Dean had a broken leg and could not walk. Dean crawled down the stairs repeatedly yelling "I'm King David, motherfucker. I'm King David. Shoot me. Shoot me." Dean made it to the downstairs living room while D.D. kept his gun trained on him.

Dean threw the pipe towards D.D., then hobbled into the kitchen and grabbed a knife.

Police soon arrived at the house and found Dean lying on a couch holding a knife to his throat. Dean was bleeding from his neck, refused to put the knife down, and threatened to kill himself and the police officers. The police attempted to negotiate with Dean, but he rambled incoherently and repeatedly referred to himself as "the King." Police eventually subdued Dean by shooting him with a beanbag shotgun and turning a police dog on him. Dean was taken into custody. After Dean's arrest, a handwritten note with blood on it was found in the family's kitchen. The letter contained delusions and incomprehensible statements.

B

Dean was charged by information with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm (a metal pipe) (counts 1 &2; Pen. Code, § 245, subd. (a)(1)^[2]) and burglary of an inhabited dwelling house (count 3; § 459). As to count 3, the information alleged that another person other than an accomplice was present at the time of the offense (§ 667.5, subd. (c)(21)). The information also contained three allegations that Dean had previously served time in prison pursuant to section 667.5, subdivision (a), an allegation he had a serious prior conviction pursuant to section 667, subdivision (a), and an allegation that he had a serious violent offense conviction within the meaning of sections 667, subdivisions (c) and (e)(1) and 1170.12 subdivision (c)(1). Dean pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. As a result of his NGI plea, the court appointed two psychiatrists to evaluate Dean under section 1026.

On July 31, 2017, after the guilt phase trial, a jury found Dean guilty on all counts and found true the allegation that the house was occupied at the time of the burglary. The case then proceeded to the sanity phase trial. During this phase, Dean's trial counsel presented evidence of the handwritten note found shortly after Dean was arrested. The note was discovered on the kitchen floor where Dean had been the night of the crimes. "There was blood and fluid around the kitchen and the note was wet with blood. The note referred to Dean as a prince and to a dinosaur. The note was fragmented and did not make sense." (People v. Dean (Nov. 29, 2018, D074700) [nonpub. opn.] (Dean).)

The two appointed psychologists, Dr. Robert Suiter and Dr. William Jones, testified about their evaluations of Dean. "Dr. Suiter evaluated Dean and reviewed historical mental health record, police reports, a letter from a family member, and handwritten documents from Dean." (Dean, supra, D074700.) Dr. Suiter opined that "Dean had a history of psychosexual delusions, which are fixed beliefs not based in reality. He believed his [father] had sexually molested family members, who then engaged in molestation of others as adults. He also believed family members were suffering from Stockholm Syndrome." (Ibid.) Dr. Suiter testified that "Dean also had a history of auditory hallucinations, believing voices talked to him from the television." (Ibid.) Dr. Suiter stated that Dean told him "he believed [his father] had been molesting individuals, including a child" and that "Dean went to the house on the night of the incident to confront [his] father." (Ibid.)

"Dr. Suiter opined Dean had schizoaffective disorder and was not sane at the time of the crimes. He based his opinion on Dean's history of chronic mental disorder along with symptoms at the time of the crime, which were corroborated by police reports of the arresting officers." (Dean, supra, D074700.) Dr. Suiter believed that due to Dean's "severe mental disorder," he "was experiencing an elaborate delusional system and was unable to appreciate his beliefs were not based in reality. His confrontation of [his father] based on the delusions led Dr. Suiter to conclude Dean was unable to appreciate the wrongfulness of his actions at the time." (Ibid.)

Dr Jones testified that Dean told him that he thought his father and half-brother "were molesting children or were about to molest children in the family," that he "heard the voice of a Las Vegas casino owner", and that "his...