Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

02-1731 Schultz v. Page

By: dmc-admin//December 23, 2002//

02-1731 Schultz v. Page

By: dmc-admin//December 23, 2002//

Listen to this article

“[T]he Supreme Court held as a matter of law in Ake v. Oklahoma that an indigent defendant is entitled to have a psychiatrist appointed to assist in his defense if the defendant shows that his sanity at the time of the crime will be a significant factor at trial. Ake v. Oklahoma, 470 U.S. 68, 83 (1985).

“[T]he appellate court stated that Schultz never formally raised the insanity defense. The court, presumably, is referring to the statutory procedures under Illinois law for asserting the insanity defense as they existed at the time of Schultz’s trial. See 720 ILL. COMP. STAT. 5/6-2 (1996), amended by P.A. 89-404, § 15, eff. Aug. 20, 1995 (declared unconstitutional by People v. Ramsey, 735 N.E.2d 533 (Ill. 2000)); 725 ILL. COMP. STAT. 5/115-6 (1996); ILL. SUP. CT. R. 413(d). Because Schultz’s trial counsel learned of his client’s 1994 hospitalization and Lodge’s March 1996 examination only days before the trial was scheduled to begin, and because counsel immediately requested both fitness and sanity examinations, we find it difficult to understand how he could have formally asserted an insanity defense before the appointment of a psychiatrist. We need not, however, delve further into Illinois law on this procedure; we find that Schultz’s request for a psychiatric examination sufficiently alerted the State and the trial court to the possibility that he might plead insanity.”

Affirmed.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, Reagan, J., Bauer, J.

Polls

Should Steven Avery be granted a new evidentiary hearing?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Legal News

See All Legal News

WLJ People

Sea all WLJ People

Opinion Digests