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Indiana v. Edwards & Competency

This morning the US Supreme Court issued its decision in Indiana v. Edwards. The Court considered the issue of whether a defendant who is found competent to stand trial may be denied the right to represent himself because of mental illness issues. In an opinion authored by Justice Breyer, which was joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Stevens, Kennedy, Souter, Ginsburg and Alito, the Court held that a state may require the appointment of counsel to represent a defendant who is competent to stand trial but not competent enough to represent himself at trial. In reaching this decision, the Court considered its cases on competency, Dusky v. United States and Drope v. Missouri, and its cases on self-representation, Faretta v. California and Godinez v...continue to full post

Full post as published by Harmful Error on June 19, 2008 (boomark / email).