Casey Anthony Trial: Competency, Insanity and the Casey Anthony Defense Strategy - Criminal Report Daily

Casey Anthony Trial: Competency, Insanity and the Casey Anthony Defense Strategy
June 29, 2011

Excerpt:

[ By Dr. Kenneth J. Ryan, a criminologist at California State University. ]

Trial-blog-casey-ken-blog-062911 It was a busy weekend recently for Casey Anthony and an unexpected weekend off for the jury. Legal pundits and trial watchers from far and near are scratching their collective heads wondering what in the world stopped the trial in its somewhat wobbly tracks. Nevertheless, we should be able to calculate what transpired with some degree of certainty or at least narrow the possibilities.

To begin with, we should look at what happened and clarify the process by contrasting it with what did not happen. What did happen is that the Casey Anthony defense team requested a psychological examination to determine if the defendant is competent to participate in her own defense and determine whether or not she fully understands the charges against her. Usually such examinations are made before voir dire to derail the trial before it begins. Nevertheless, in mid-trial the defense team made a motion that Judge Perry order a competency test for their client and, thereafter, three psychologists were tasked with conducting evaluations. Casey Anthony was examined and each psychologist found the accused child murderer competent to stand trial. And so, the trial continued on Monday with little more said about it; at least for the time being.

More: http://blogs.discovery.com/criminal_report/2011/06/casey-anthony-trial-competency-insanity-and-the-casey-anthony-defense-strategy.html