Court mandates mental health hearing

Court mandates mental health hearing

Booked by the Benton County Sheriff’s Office back in August 2012 and sentenced to sixty-five years in prison for possession and delivery of narcotics, Jamaal Dulane Simpson is now appealing to state court after failing to accept the Benton County Circuit Court ruling which denied him a competency hearing.

Back in February 2013, Simpson’s attorney Robby Golden based his case defense on his client’s mental impairment and the court responded by ordering psychological examinations to assess whether Simpson was or was not fully aware of his actions at the time of the offense.

The inmate was examined twice in July and, upon receiving the results (which made it clear that, while the patient suffered from post-traumatic stress (PTSD) and had a history of cocaine abuse, he showed no impediment in acknowledging the charges made against him), the defense attorney formally challenged the findings and demanded a competency hearing to that effect.

Although some may argue that there have been instances where such judicial maneuvers have been used to discourage heavy sentences, the fact is there is very little research on the effects of perception of intellectual disability on jurors’ decisions. In addition, cases built around a defendant’s alleged intellectual disability are a minority in US courts, and the scope of influence that mental illness has on a verdict varies across jurisdictions. Nevertheless, and according to the appeals court judges, an appeals hearing is mandatory whenever a defendant takes issue with an examiner’s conclusions on their mental state and motions for a rehearing.

This competency hearing will be paramount in determining whether Simpson will be granted a retrial and, in case he is not found competent at the time of the offense, the inmate will be taken to the State Hospital to assess the possibility of restoring his competence. If, on the other hand, the results of the July examinations are confirmed and Simpson is found competent at the time the offenses took place, then the Court of Appeals will have no choice but to acknowledge Simpson’s conviction and sentence him to a life in jail.