United States District Court, M.D. Florida, Orlando Division
ORDER
PAUL
G. BYRON UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
This
cause comes before the Court on Defendant's Motion to
Revoke Order of Detention (Doc. 138), filed May 9, 2017, and
the Government's Response in Opposition. (Doc. 140),
filed May 15, 2017. Upon consideration of the pleadings and
the transcript of the bond hearing, the Defendant's
motion will be granted.
I.
BACKGROUND
A.
Procedural History
On
October 9, 2013, Defendant, Michael Field, was charged in a
one-count Indictment with possessing child pornography, in
violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2252A(a)(5)(B) and
(b)(2). (Doc. 1). By November 11, 2013, the Magistrate Judge
ordered a competency evaluation, having recognized Mr.
Field's serious mental illness. (Doc. 16). Three months
later, Mr. Field was found competent to stand trial. (Doc.
23). After several continuances to address his mental
illness, Mr. Field pled guilty and this Court accepted his
plea. (Doc. 72). In preparation for the sentencing hearing,
counsel for both Mr. Field and the Government submitted
detailed sentencing memoranda. (Docs. 83, 85, 96, 101).
Shortly before the scheduled sentencing hearing, Mr. Field
was again referred for a competency evaluation. (Docs. 93,
94, 99). Psychological evaluations by Dr. Robert Kennerley,
Mr. Field's current treating mental health professional,
and Dr. Eric Imhof, were also provided to the Court. (Sealed
Doc. 103).
B.
The Sentencing Proceeding on the Indictment
The
sentencing proceeding was held on January 30, 2015. (Doc.
115). Dr. Imhof testified at length and provided a detailed
analysis of Mr. Field's many and varied mental health
issues. (Id.). Prior to the hearing, the Court
closely reviewed voluminous medical records dating back to
2005. The testimony and documentary evidence unequivocally
proved Mr. Field, as a child, had been the victim of repeated
and traumatic sexual abuse over an extended period of time,
not less than nine years, at the hands of a trusted relative.
The trauma inflicted upon Mr. Field was so severe that it
resulted in a lifelong struggle with Dissociative Identity
Disorder (“DID”)-literally the splintering of his
ego into no less than seven competing personalities. The harm
endured as a child was compounded during his service in the
Navy. This medical history was unchallenged, unquestionably
accurate, and is manifested in psychiatric and psychological
records which predate his arrest by at least eight years. Due
to the extraordinarily unusual mental health history present
in the instant case, this Court varied from the advisory
guideline range, and imposed a sentence of time served,
followed by a lifetime of supervised release. (Docs. 118,
120).
C.
Bond Hearing on Violation of Supervised Release
Mr.
Field appeared before Magistrate Judge Baker on April 28,
2017 for his initial appearance and bond hearing arising from
violations of conditions of supervised release (positive
urinalysis). (Doc. 123). Magistrate Judge Baker continued the
detention hearing, and Mr. Field was restored to conditions
of supervised release pending the issuance of a new hearing
date. (Doc. 123). The minutes of the April 28th hearing
reflect the Government represented to the Court that Mr.
Field posed a danger to himself, due to his positive
urinalysis, more than being a flight risk. (Id.).
The bond hearing was scheduled for May 5, 2017. (Docs. 130,
131).
The
bond hearing was conducted by Magistrate Judge Kelly. (Doc.
133). At the hearing, the Court received a letter from Dr.
Kennerley-Mr. Field's mental health counselor, (Doc.
134)-and the Court heard from Mr. Field's daughter,
Tabitha Field, and Probation Officer Bryce Hartgrave. (Doc.
136). Counsel for Mr. Field voiced concern that Mr. Field,
who currently resides in an adult facility for sex offenders,
could lose his placement and be rendered homeless by imposing
a period of pre-hearing detention. (Doc. 136, p. 3). The
supervising probation officer, Mr. Hartgrave, was then
permitted to proffer to Magistrate Judge Kelly an overview of
his supervision activities.
Mr.
Hartgrave explained to the Court that Mr. Field has
dissociative identity disorder and has seven personalities.
(Id. at p. 4). For the majority of 2016, Mr.
Hartgrave has been dealing with the major personality-or
alter-known as Tristin. (Id.). The difficulty in
supervising Mr. Field in terms of the recent onset of his
drug usage is directly related to his dissociative identity
disorder. That is, if Mr. Field's personality, as opposed
to his alter, is present during a substance abuse treatment
session, he will not have any idea why he is at the meeting.
(Id.). This is because Mr. Field is not using
illegal drugs; rather, the personality Tristin is the one who
is using drugs. (Id.).
The
Court is aware that Tristin is the identity that appeared
following years of sexual abuse by Mr. Field's family
member.[1] At the sentencing hearing, the medical
records clearly corroborated that this identity was created,
along with several other identities, following the
abuse.[2] Mr. Hartgrave went on to explained at the
bond hearing that Mr. Field's treating psychologist, Dr.
Kennerley, is working on uniting the seven different
personalities.[3] (Id. at pp. 4-5). Due to these
factors, Mr. Hartgrave stated “I'm not asking for
detention on him because the only stable factor in his life
is his residence. If we detain him for any period of time and
he's released, say, at sentencing, we're going to
have a homeless sex offender with possible drug
issues.”[4] (Id. at p. 5). Counsel for the
Government agreed, stating “I don't think
incarceration, given the situation that he's dealing with
or his mental health issues, is the best option unless
there's no other way because he continues to use
controlled substances.” (Id. at p. 9).
A
presumptive drug test administered the day of the bond
hearing resulted in a positive test result for
methamphetamines and amphetamines. (Id. at p. 10).
By way of additional background, Mr. Field first tested
positive for marijuana in June of 2016, after having been on
supervised release without incident for 18 months.
(Id. at pp. 5, 8-9).
Ms.
Tabitha Field, Mr. Field's twenty-two-year-old daughter,
testified that she is willing to serve as a third-party
custodian. (Id. at pp. 14-15). Ms. Field is a
responsible adult who is gainfully employed and lacks any
criminal history. (Id. at pp. 14, 18). Mr.
Field's former wife continues to be supportive and
provides him a monthly allowance for expenses. (Id.
at p. 18). The Court confirmed that Ms. Field understood the
responsibilities of a third-party custodian, including the
duty to report violations of conditions of supervised release
to the Court. (Id. at p. 19).
Probation
Officer Hartgrave testified next; he has been supervising Mr.
Field since January 2016. (Id. at p. 22). Mr.
Hartgrave related the history of positive urinalysis
beginning in June 2016, and explained that during the past
year he has been dealing with the alter Tristin, as opposed
to Mr. Field. (Id. at pp. 22-23). Mr. Hartgrave
stated that “Tristin had explained to me that she had a
prescription for Adderall or I believe it was Ritalin earlier
one. And she had heard from somebody that methamphetamine was
similar to those substances. And that's why she was
curious to take it.” (Id. at p. 23).
The
Government established that the alter, Tristin, was driving
from New Smyrna Beach to Daytona Beach to purchase the drugs.
(Id. at p. 24). Mr. Hartgrave has been attempting to
address Mr. Field's substance abuse, but treatment is
complicated by Mr. Field's mental health issues.
(Id. at p. 25). Mr. Hartgrave explained:
When Michael [Field] is present-or before the last few
months, when Michael is present, the other personalities are
not present. When Tristin is present, the other
personalities- it's Annie, Nicole, Megan, Bailey, Tristin
and I believe Robert is the other male-they are all present.
So what Dr. Kennerley has been trying to do is get Michael to
meet Tristin and the other personalities. He's been
addressing some substance abuse issues with him. However,
it's difficult because of the severity of the mental
health issues.
(Id.).
The
manner by which the multiple personalities complicate
substance abuse treatment is evidenced by the following
testimony:
My last encounter with him [Mr. Field] in March over the
methamphetamine drug use was very interesting. The day before
I had talked to, I believe, Michael on the phone. He was at
the V.A. Clinic.
And Michael had told me that he had slipped up and he let us
down, meaning he let me and himself down . . . . So I asked
him to be home the next night. It was a Friday night. And I
asked to stop by and talk to him. When I ...