State v. Garrett

In State v. Garrett, 182 W.Va. 166, 386 S.E.2d 823 (1989), the appellant argued that he had a due process right to a hearing prior to trial. The evidence showed that three experts found the appellant competent to stand trial despite the fact that two of the experts diagnosed the appellant with paranoid schizophrenia, for which he had been previously treated on two separate occasions. Also, a previous destruction of property charge against the appellant was later dismissed because of a psychological recommendation that the appellant could not cooperate in a rational manner with an attorney in his own defense. Nevertheless, the Court found, based on the unanimous psychiatrists' and psychologists' reports, that the trial court did not err in failing to conduct an evidentiary hearing.