Kansas Vs. Cheever -
Whether the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination was violated when the state used a court-ordered mental evaluation to rebut the defendant's expert testimony that claimed the defendant lacked the requisite mental state to commit capital murder due to methamphetamine use.
(http://www.willamette.edu/wucl/resources/journals/wlo/scotuscg/2013/02/kansas-v-cheever.html)
I personally believe that the privilege against self-incrimination was violated. I believe that calling in a psychiatrist only further brings in extra testimonial evidence that only helps further incriminate the defendant.
“Still, the question presented is one never explicitly addressed by the Court before, and it would resolve a split in the federal circuits (albeit an uneven one disfavoring defendants).
Since it has been so long since SCOTUS has even heard a case about the use of evidence from a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation, we won’t have a very good idea about how the Court will rule on this until after oral arguments, which will likely be sometime at the beginning of the Court’s next term (between October and December).
Although the decision will undoubtedly impact the use of mental state defenses and evidence nationwide, the grimmer consequence of the ruling is the fact that the Court’s decision will almost certainly determine whether Cheever receives the death sentence or life imprisonment.” -Jeremy Byellin
- http://westlawinsider.com/top-legal-news/hot-docs-scotus-to-decide-whether-fifth-amendment-protects-against-testimony-by-court-ordered-psychiatrist/
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