Yesterday the COA reversed robbery convictions where there was a question of whether the defendant was competent either to stand trial or represent himself due to delusional thinking. (The defense in the case was that the CIA, NSA and other "black ops" organizations forced the defendant to rob the banks.) The Court held that the district court erred in failing to sua sponte order a competency evaluation given the evidence of bizarre thinking prior to and during the trial. The conviction was reversed and the matter remanded for a competency hearing and a new trial if the defendant was found to be competent.
State v. Hawkins, http://www.isc.idaho.gov/opinions/Hawkins,%20Faron.pdf.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Dennis modestly neglects to indicate that this is his case. Congratulations Dennis and thanks for all of his work keeping this blog going.
ReplyDeleteI also modestly neglected to mention all the appeals I lost this year. The real credit goes to my co-counsel and wife, Deborah Whipple, who wrote the briefs. I just argued the case.
ReplyDelete