# Boswell v. State

> Supreme Court of Alabama · March 29, 1973 · 290 Ala. 349

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9687747

## Case

- **Full name:** Thomas Anderson BOSWELL v. STATE of Alabama
- **Court:** Supreme Court of Alabama
- **Decided:** March 29, 1973
- **Citations:** 290 Ala. 349; 276 So. 2d 592; 1973 Ala. LEXIS 1328
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Heflin
- **Judges:** Faulkner, Heflin, Merrill, Har-Wood, Maddox
- **Cited by:** 68 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9687747

## Opinion text

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.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9687747. Public record. Not legal advice.