National
Desk
| June 17, 2003, Tuesday
JUSTICES
RESTRICT FORCED MEDICATION PRECEDING A TRIAL
By LINDA GREENHOUSE (NYT) 1196
words
Late Edition - Final , Section A ,
Page 1 , Column 6
ABSTRACT
- Supreme Court votes, 6-to-3, to place
strict limits on government's ability to
medicate mentally ill defendants forcibly to
make them competent to stand trial; finds
use of antipsychotic drugs must be in
defendant's best medical interest and
'substantially unlikely' to cause side
effects that would compromise fairness of
trial; court holds government's 'important'
interest in bringing defendant to trial must
be unattainable by alternative, less
intrusive means; Justice Stephen G Breyer,
writing for majority, says circumstances
permitting involuntary administration of
antipsychotic drugs 'may be rare' whether
defendant has been accused of violent or, as
in this case, nonviolent crime; decision
overturns ruling by federal appeals court in
St Louis authorizing forced medication of Dr
Charles T Sell, dentist charged with
Medicaid fraud and mail fraud; he has been
found incompetent and has refused
medication; legal standoff has kept him
confined without trial for more than four
years (L) The Supreme Court placed strict
limits today on the government's ability to
medicate mentally ill defendants forcibly to
make them competent to stand trial.
The use of antipsychotic drugs must be in
the defendant's best medical interest and
''substantially unlikely'' to cause side
effects that would compromise the fairness
of the trial, the court said in a 6-to-3
decision by Justice Stephen G. Breyer.
Additionally, the court held, the
government's ''important'' interest in
bringing the defendant to trial must be
unattainable by alternative, less intrusive
means.
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