§704-407.5 Examination of defendant with respect to physical or mental disease, disorder, or defect excluding penal responsibility. (1) Whenever the defendant has filed a notice of intention to rely on the defense of physical or mental disease, disorder, or defect excluding penal responsibility, or there is reason to believe that the physical or mental disease, disorder, or defect of the defendant will or has become an issue in the case, the court may order an examination as to the defendant's physical or mental disease, disorder, or defect at the time of the conduct alleged.
Whenever there is reason to believe that the physical or mental disease, disorder, or defect of the defendant will or has become an issue in the case, the court may enter into an agreement with the parties at any stage of the proceeding to divert the case into an evaluation of the defendant, treatment of the defendant, including residential or rehabilitation treatment; or any other course or procedure, including diversion into specialized courts. Such agreements may include in-court clinical evaluations.
(2) For those cases not diverted by an agreement pursuant to subsection (1), the court shall appoint three qualified examiners for class A and class B felonies, as well as for class C felonies involving violence or attempted violence, and one qualified examiner in nonfelony cases to examine and report upon the physical or mental disease, disorder, or defect of the defendant at the time of the conduct. For class C felonies not involving violence or attempted violence, the court may appoint one or three qualified examiners to examine and report upon the physical or mental disease, disorder, or defect of the defendant at the time of the conduct. In cases where the court appoints three examiners, the court shall appoint as examiners psychiatrists, licensed psychologists, or qualified physicians; provided that one of the three examiners shall be a psychiatrist or licensed psychologist designated by the director of health from within the department of health. In nonfelony cases and class C felonies not involving violence or attempted violence where one examiner is appointed, the court may appoint as examiners either a psychiatrist or a licensed psychologist. The examiner may be designated by the director of health from within the department of health. All examiners shall be appointed from a list of certified examiners as determined by the department of health. The court, in appropriate circumstances, may appoint an additional examiner or examiners. The court may direct that one or more qualified physicians or psychologists retained by the defendant be permitted to witness the examination. As used in this section, the term "licensed psychologist" includes psychologists exempted from licensure by section 465-3(a)(3) and "qualified physician" means a physician qualified by the court for the specific evaluation ordered.
(3) An examination performed under this section may employ any method that is accepted by the professions of medicine or psychology for the examination of those alleged to be affected by a physical or mental disease, disorder, or defect; provided that each examiner shall form and render diagnoses and opinions upon the physical and mental condition of the defendant independently from the other examiners, and the examiners, upon approval of the court, may secure the services of clinical psychologists and other medical or paramedical specialists to assist in the examination and diagnosis.
(4) For defendants charged with felonies, the examinations for fitness to proceed under section 704-404 and penal responsibility under this section shall be conducted separately unless a combined examination has been ordered by the court upon a request by the defendant or upon a showing of good cause to combine the examinations. The report of the examination for fitness to proceed shall be separate from the report of the examination for penal responsibility unless a combined examination has been ordered. For defendants charged with offenses other than felonies, a combined examination is permissible when ordered by the court.
(5) The court may order the examination to occur no sooner than one hundred twenty days of a finding of unfit to proceed under section 704-404 upon a showing of good cause.
(6) The report of the examination for penal responsibility shall include the following:
(a) A description of the nature of the examination;
(b) A diagnosis of the physical or mental condition of the defendant;
(c) An opinion as to the extent, if any, to which the capacity of the defendant to appreciate the wrongfulness of the defendant's conduct or to conform the defendant's conduct to the requirements of law was impaired at the time of the conduct alleged;
(d) When directed by the court, an opinion as to the capacity of the defendant to have a particular state of mind that is required to establish an element of the offense charged; and
(e) Where more than one examiner is appointed, a statement that the diagnosis and opinion rendered were arrived at independently of any other examiner, unless there is a showing to the court of a clear need for communication between or among the examiners for clarification. A description of the communication shall be included in the report. After all reports are submitted to the court, examiners may confer without restriction.
(7) If the examination cannot be conducted by reason of the unwillingness of the defendant to participate in the examination, the report shall so state and shall include, if possible, an opinion as to whether the unwillingness of the defendant was the result of physical or mental disease, disorder, or defect.
(8) Three copies of the report of the examination, including any supporting documents, shall be filed with the clerk of the court, who shall cause copies to be delivered to the prosecuting attorney and to counsel for the defendant.
(9) Any examiner shall be permitted to make a separate explanation reasonably serving to clarify the examiner's diagnosis or opinion.
(10) The court shall obtain all existing relevant medical, mental health, social, police, and juvenile records, including those expunged, and other pertinent records in the custody of public agencies, notwithstanding any other statute, and make the records available for inspection by the examiners in hard copy or digital format. The court may order that the records so obtained be made available to the prosecuting attorney and counsel for the defendant in either format, subject to conditions the court determines appropriate; provided that juvenile records shall not be made available unless constitutionally required. No further disclosure of records shall be made except as permitted by law.
(11) All public agencies in possession of relevant medical, mental health, social, police, and juvenile records, and any other pertinent records of a defendant ordered to be examined under this chapter, shall provide those records to the court, notwithstanding any other state statute.
(12) The compensation of persons making or assisting in the examination, other than those retained by a nonindigent defendant, who are not undertaking the examination upon designation by the director of health as part of their normal duties as employees of the State or a county, shall be paid by the State.
(13) The time during which completion of an examination pursuant to this section is pending shall be excluded in computing the time for trial commencement. [L 2016, c 198, §2; am L 2020, c 26, §7]
COMMENTARY ON §704-407.5
Act 198, Session Laws 2016, added this section when it separated the examination for fitness to proceed of a defendant with respect to physical or mental disease, disorder, or defect, from the examination for penal responsibility of the defendant with respect to physical or mental disease, disorder, or defect, with certain exceptions, in criminal prosecutions where the defendant's capacity is at issue. The legislature found that under §704-404, when a defendant's fitness to proceed comes into question, the criminal proceedings are stopped, and the court must order a physical or mental examination of the defendant to determine the defendant's fitness to proceed and whether the defendant was penally responsible for the alleged crime. The legislature further found that it is in the best interest of the defendants for the examination process to proceed in a timely, expedient manner by separating the fitness to stand trial and the penal responsibility components of examinations. Conference Committee Report No. 153-16.
Act 26, Session Laws 2020, amended this section to: (1) authorize the courts to enter into agreements to divert into residential, rehabilitative, and other treatment those defendants whose physical or mental disease, disorder, or defect is believed to have become or will become an issue in a judicial case; (2) for class C felonies not involving violence or attempted violence, authorize the appointment of one or three qualified examiners to examine and report on the physical or mental disease, disorder, or defect of the defendant at the time of the conduct; (3) repeal the requirement that the three qualified examiners appointed for felony cases include at least one psychiatrist and one licensed psychologist, and instead allow the appointment of any combination of psychiatrists, licensed psychologists, or qualified physicians, so long as one examiner is a psychiatrist or licensed psychologist designated by the director of health from within the department of health; (4) provide that in nonfelony cases and class C felonies not involving violence or attempted violence where one examiner is appointed, the examiner may be designated by the director of health from within the department of health; and (5) repeal the timing requirement that an order for a penal responsibility examination be made within thirty days after a finding of fitness to proceed. The legislature found that the recommendations of the Hawaii Summit on Improving the Governmental Response to Community Mental Illness hosted by the State Justice Institute, National Center for State Courts, Conference of Chief Justices, and Conference of State Court Administrators on November 6, 2019, as well as studies such as the 2016-2017 Policy Paper by the Conference of State Court Administrators' "Decriminalization of Mental Illness: Fixing a Broken System," demonstrated that jails nationwide had become the default mental health method of treatment for numerous low-level defendants whose needs could be far more effectively addressed by diversion into behavioral health treatment. These studies demonstrated that because of the high cost of incarceration and the high rate of recidivism because of the lack of treatment, the parties to the case should be allowed to opt out of judicial proceedings by entering into agreements at any stage of the process to reduce expenditures of time and money and increase community results. Senate Standing Committee Report No. 3757.