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.

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