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Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Ind. Decisions - Still more on: SCOTUS to hear second Indiana case

The SCOTUS heard oral arguments this morning in the Indiana case of Ahmad Edwards v. State. (For background, start with this ILB entry from March 22nd.)

Read Joan Biskupic's USA TODAY coverage here. The lengthy story begins:

WASHINGTON — Indiana Solicitor General Thomas Fisher Wednesday urged the Supreme Court to allow judges to bar confused and incoherent defendants from representing themselves to keep a trial "from descending into a farce."

In a case closely watched by numerous states, defense lawyers and psychiatric experts, Fisher asked the justices to reverse an Indiana ruling throwing out a defendant's attempted-murder conviction because he was denied his Sixth Amendment right to represent himself.

A majority of the nine justices appeared open to arguments that a mentally ill defendant who is found competent to stand trial but is not able to communicate clearly could be kept from representing himself.

The Blog of Legal Times's report includes this:
When Indiana Solicitor General Thomas Fisher suggested a test that would allow judges to bar self-representation for those who "cannot communicate coherently with the court or jury," Justice Antonin Scalia could not resist the bait. Casting his eyes toward the Court's coffered ceiling, Scalia mulled the phrase. "Cannot communicate coherently?... I sometimes think that the lawyers cannot communicate coherently." Ba da boom. Spectators laughed. How often do the justices get to tell lawyer jokes?

Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 26, 2008 03:31 PM
Posted to Ind. Sup.Ct. Decisions