The court considered the definition of whether a defendant was fit to stand trial. The defendant had been found under a disability before arraignment, but now said that he should have been tried. There was medical evidence that his ‘delusional thinking might cause him to use his challenges wrongly or unwisely and that his ‘delusional thinking’, from which he suffers, might cause him to act otherwise than in his own best interest; in other words unwisely, and so on.’ The defendant argued that ‘On the evidence here [he] appears to have had a complete understanding of the legal proceedings and all that is involved and, although he suffers from delusions which at any moment might interfere with a proper action on his part, that is not a matter which should deprive him of his right of being tried.’
Held: The disability finding was set aside.
Judges:
Lord Parker
Citations:
[1968] 52 Cr App R 690
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Moyle v Regina CACD 18-Dec-2008
The defendant appealed from his conviction for murder. He said that he had not been fit to plead at the time of the trial. A medical report had said that whilst his responsibility was impaired, it had not been substantially so. The report warned of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Crime
Updated: 02 May 2022; Ref: scu.279856