Mental Disabilities Law Issues
| Publication year | 1978 |
| Pages | 406 |
| Citation | Vol. 7 No. 3 Pg. 406 |
1978, March, Pg. 406. Mental Disabilities Law Issues
A defendant in a criminal case in Colorado is subject to commitment to the custody of the Colorado Department of Institutions upon either a finding at any stage of the proceedings that the defendant is incompetent to proceed or a verdict that the defendant is not guilty by reason of insanity. This column sets forth the statutory procedures which control criminal commitments in Colorado (C.R.S. 1973, as amended, §§ 16-8-101---122) and discusses case law bearing on those commitment procedures.
C.R.S. 1973, § 16-8-102(3), defines "incompetent to proceed" to mean that "the defendant is suffering from a mental disease or defect which renders him incapable of understanding the nature and course of proceedings against him or of participating or assisting in his defense or cooperating with his defense counsel." C.R.S. 1973, § 16-8-10, codifies the effect of incompetency in Colorado criminal proceedings. Section 16-8-10(1) provides:
Except for trial of the issue raised by a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, no person shall be tried, sentenced, or executed if he is incompetent to proceed at that stage of the proceedings against him.
The question of competency to proceed can be raised by the judge, the prosecution, or the defense at any time as provided in C.R.S. 1973, as amended, § 16-8-110. Because a defendant found incompetent is by definition unable to assist adequately in his defense, it has been held that the defendant is entitled to a determination of his incompetency prior to a preliminary hearing [People v. Fletcher, Colo. App., 546 P.2d 980 (1975)]. By this same reasoning, despite the exception in § 16-8-10(1), a sanity trial probably cannot continue once the defendant is found incompetent to proceed.
C.R.S. 1973, § 16-8-112, provides that upon a finding of incompetency to proceed, a defendant shall be committed until such time as found competent. The United States Supreme Court in Jackson v. Indiana, 406 U.S. 715 (1972) held that a defendant found to be incompetent to proceed could not be held indefinitely until competent. If after a reasonable time there appeared to be little chance that the defendant would become competent, the state was required to commence civil commitment...
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