DUSKY
v.
UNITED STATES
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In this Supreme Court case, the Court reversed a conviction where the district court had found the defendant competent to stand trial based on insufficient evidence, holding that competency to stand trial requires that a defendant have sufficient present ability to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding and a rational as well as factual understanding of the proceedings against him—a standard more stringent than merely being oriented to time and place. The Court remanded the case for a new competency hearing and, if competency is established, a new trial.
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Per Curiam.
The motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis and the petition for a writ of certiorari are granted. Upon consideration of the entire record we agree with the Solicitor General that “the record in this case does not sufficiently support the findings of competency to stand trial/' for to support those findings under 18 U.
S. C. § 4244 the district judge “would need more information than this record presents.” We also agree with the suggestion of the Solicitor General that it is not enough for the district judge to find that “the defendant [is] oriented to time and place and [has] some recollection of events,” but that the “test must be whether he has sufficient present ability to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding — and whether he has a rational as well as factual understanding of the proceedings against him.” In view of the doubts and ambiguities regarding the legal significance of the psychiatric testimony in this case and the resulting difficulties of retrospectively determining the petitioner’s competency as of more than a year ago, we reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals affirming the judgment of conviction, and remand the case to the District Court for a new hearing to ascertain petitioner’s present competency to stand trial, and for a new trial if petitioner is found competent.
It is so ordered.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By (445 total)
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Hunter v. State, 660 So. 2d 244 (Fla. 1995)…ial is whether “he has sufficient present ability to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding — and whether he has a rational as well as factual understanding of the proceedings against him.” Dusky v. United States, 362 U.S. 402, 402, 80 S.Ct. 788, 789, 4 L.Ed.2d 824, 825 (1960); see also § 916.12(1), Fla.Stat. (1993); Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.211(a)(1). The reports of experts are “merely advisory to the [trial court], which itself retains the responsibility of the decision.” Muhamm…1 / 2
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Lucious Boyd v. State, 910 So. 2d 167 (Fla. 1998)…with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding — and whether he has a rational as well as a factual understanding of the proceedings against him.’ ” Hardy v. State, 716 So. 2d 761, 763 (Fla.1998) (quoting Dusky v. United States, 362 U.S. 402, 402, 80 S.Ct. [*187] 788, 4 L.Ed.2d 824 (1960)). Trial courts are to order competency hearings whenever it appears necessary based on the defendant’s history or behavior in court. Gibson v. State, 474 So. 2d 1188, 1184 (Fla.1985). The trial court’s…1 / 2
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Tingle v. State, 536 So. 2d 202 (Fla. 1988)…nt ability to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding or that he does not have a rational as well as a factual understanding of the proceeding being brought against him. Fla.R.Crim.P. 3.212; Dusky v. United States, 362 U.S. 402, 80 S.Ct. 788, 4 L.Ed.2d 824 (1960); Hill, 473 So. 2d at 1257; Scott, 420 So. 2d at 597.1 As we have previously noted in Scott and Hill, a hearing to determine whether a defendant was competent at the time he was tried generally cannot be held retr…
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