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06/20/2008
Faculty Research Cited by Supreme Court in Recent Decision Involving Criminal Defendants
In a case involving competency to stand trial (Indiana v. Edwards - see attached), the U.S. Supreme Court cited research published by Dr. Norm Poythress, Dr. Randy Otto, and several co-authors.
Here is the Supreme Court's case citation:
"In certain instances an individual may well be able to satisfy Dusky’s mental competence standard, for he will be able to work with counsel at trial, yet at the same time he may be unable to carry out the basic tasks needed to present his own defense without the help of counsel. See, e.g., N.Poythress, R. Bonnie, J. Monahan, R. Otto, & S. Hoge, Adjudicative Competence: The MacArthur Studies 103 (2002) (“Within each domain of adjudicative competence (competence to assist counsel; decisional competence) the data indicate that understanding, reasoning, and appreciation [of the charges against a defendant] are separable and somewhat independent aspects of functional legal ability”).