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Sunday, November 13, 2005
Ind. Courts - Costs of determining whether a person is competent to stand trial
The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette has an informative story by Sara Eaton headlined "Fit to stand trial? Courts decide: Spending on competency cases rises." It begins:
Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull had to decide twice last week whether a person appearing before her was competent to stand trial. She found one person was and one person wasn’t.Both cases involved violent crimes.
The person charged with attempted murder will be committed to a state mental hospital indefinitely until he is found to be competent or until he dies. He repeatedly tried to tell his attorney about “top secret information” while she was trying to prepare his defense.
Meanwhile, the other person, charged with criminal confinement, will stand trial this month.
Gull’s decisions were based on reports submitted by local psychologists or psychiatrists who evaluated both defendants – a service paid for by taxpayers.
The evaluations are necessary to protect the constitutional rights of those who are charged with crimes. Allen Superior Court appears to be handling more cases in which evaluations are ordered. So far this year, the court has paid $33,669 to doctors and agencies for work completed on 30 cases, ranging from misdemeanors to robberies to burglaries to murders.
Despite a procedural change implemented to control spending, Allen Superior Court will likely spend more money on these evaluations in 2005 than any recent year. In 2002, the court spent $35,167 on 29 cases – the highest amount in recent years.
The number of cases in which evaluations are performed seems to be growing in recent years according to one doctor, who cited an increased understanding of mental illness by criminal justice officials.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 13, 2005 12:42 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts