Mental Health Law Report articles from February 2006

Mental Health Law Report archives from February 2006

Amnesty international.(Slants & Trends)
February 1, 2006... AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, which seeks to abolish the death penalty in the U.S., is next going after the execution of people with serious mental illness (see story, this page). Mental health advocates have long seen this as a logical next step, but...

Amnesty international report targets execution of people with mental illness.
February 1, 2006... In a sweeping chronicle of people with debilitating psychiatric disorders on death row, Amnesty International has called for a government-wide campaign to keep defendants with serious mental illness from receiving the ultimate sentence. ...

The faces of death row: a horror-film look-alike, a proud posthumous voter.
February 1, 2006... Much of Amnesty International's report on the execution of defendants with serious mental illness is a narrative of people who suffered abuse as children, post-traumatic stress disorder from military combat or harmful prison conditions. The...

Ruling: defense bowed out too early, trial court did not follow through.(Rulings)
February 1, 2006... U.S. v. Collins, Dec. 5, 2005 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals 430 F.3d 1260, No. 04-2002 A lawyer's announcement at a competency hearing that he intended to stop representing his client does not excuse him from answering...

In Bevy of cases on mental retardation, Oklahoma reflects divided judgments.(Rulings)
February 1, 2006... The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals provides a window into the way courts can interpret mental retardation defenses in the wake of the Supreme Court's Atkins decision striking down capital punishment for defendants with retardation. In...

Downward departure.(Briefly Noted)
February 1, 2006... U.S. v. Menyweather, Dec. 16, 2005 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals 431 F.3d 692, No. 03-50496 The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to make sentencing guidelines more advisory than mandatory has split a three-judge panel considering...

Insanity/commitment.(Briefly Noted)(Brief article)
February 1, 2006... State v. Klein, Dec. 15, 2005 Supreme Court of Washington 124 P.3d 644, No. 75715-1 If defendants acquitted by reason of insanity suffer from a different mental condition than the one that formed the basis of their acquittal, they...

Insanity and guilt.(Briefly Noted)(Brief article)
February 1, 2006... U.S. v. Southwell, Dec. 30, 2005 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals 432 F.3d 1050, No. 04-30521 A three-judge panel reversed the conviction of a man who pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity because the trial court did not assure...

Employment discrimination.(Briefly Noted)(Brief article)
February 1, 2006... Josephs v. Pacific Bell, Dec. 27, 2005 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals 432 F.3d 1006, No. 03-56412 A man who was hospitalized after being found not guilty by reason of insanity showed discrimination when his employer terminated...

Waiver of insanity defense.(Briefly Noted)(Brief article)
February 1, 2006... State v. Tribble, Dec. 30, 2005 Supreme Court of Vermont 2005 VT 132, No. 2003-073 A trial court was in error to allow a trial to proceed without counsel even though the defendant rejected every attorney assigned to him, because...

New law does more harm than good in mental health groups' assessment.(Legislative Update)
February 1, 2006... The battle over Medicaid cuts in a new budget reconciliation law largely opposed by mental health and disability groups will now move to the states --if not to the courtroom first. The Deficit Reduction Act has a couple of positive...

New Mexico.(State News)
February 1, 2006... NEW MEXICO -- Gov. Bill Richardson (D) has agreed to stand behind passing "Kendra's Law" in his state, although a competing bill has garnered more support. The push for Kendra's Law in New Mexico, like the one in New York that launched the...

Connecticut.(State News)(Brief Article)
February 1, 2006... CONNECTICUT -- More than 200 people with mental illness are "needlessly segregated and inappropriately warehoused" in three Connecticut nursing homes, according to a lawsuit that seeks community-based services for the people. The complaint...

Wyoming.(State News)
February 1, 2006... WYOMING -- Neither Medicaid nor the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act bar access to mental health records as long as the disclosure is required by a protection and advocacy act, U.S. District Court Judge Alan Johnson has...

Disability groups concerned, even if not united, on judicial nominations.(Disability Report)
February 1, 2006... With Samuel Alito now safely on the U.S. Supreme Court, and Sandra Day O'Connor retired, disability groups are once again divided over their course of action during the confirmation process. Many factors go into a disability organization's...

Disability rights activists 'angered' by high court assisted suicide stand.(Disability Report)
February 1, 2006... Disability rights activists are "angered and frustrated" by the Supreme Court for upholding Oregon's physician-assisted suicide law and by the Department of Justice for their handling of the case, according to Not Dead Yet. Diane Coleman,...

Emergency preparedness.
February 1, 2006... EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS must involve planning for those with mental illness and disabilities. That is why the National Disability Rights Network worked to get a $5.4 million slice of recent FEMA case management money for Hurricane Katrina...

No big surprise.
February 1, 2006... NO BIG SURPRISE: Nearly four years after the Supreme Court in Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002), striking down capital punishment for people with mental retardation, defendants are testing the limits of how to define the condition. Atkins...