Opinion

Boswell v. State

  • 290 Ala. 349
  • 276 So. 2d 592
  • 1973 Ala. LEXIS 1328
Court
Supreme Court of Alabama
Filed
Mar 29, 1973
Status
Published
Author
Heflin
On the bench
Faulkner, Heflin, Merrill, Har-Wood, Maddox
Cited by
68 cases
Authority
More cited than 8.4%

The opinion

HEFLIN, Chief Justice

(concurring):

If “sufficient doubt” of the mental capacity of the defendant to stand trial had been shown then I would have been of the opinion that a hearing should have been held separate from the trial to determine the defendant’s mental capacity to stand trial. See Pate v. Robinson, 383 U.S. 375 , 86 S.Ct. 836 , 15 L.Ed.2d 815 . See also my dissenting opinion in Seibold v. State, 287 Ala. 549 , 253 So.2d 302 .

While the defendant did interpose a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, he withdrew such plea before it went to the jury. A review of the record in this case indicates that there was not manifested during the trial “sufficient doubt” pertaining to the mental competency of the defendant to stand trial so as to justify a hearing on that issue.

I, therefore, concur in the opinion.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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