title: Not Competent, Not Restorable, and Not Committable.
abstract: I comment on the problem discussed by Simpson of criminal defendants who are found not competent, not restorable, and subject to involuntary civil commitment. He presents the 2010 case of Donn Thomas Spinosa in Oregon as an exemplar of serial nonrestorability. The facts of the Spinosa case are illustrative of a prosecutor who is frustrated by not being able to bring a criminal prosecution against a person who is not competent to stand trial and a state hospital that is proposing discharge of the person because he can no longer be civilly committed. I review and apply the longstanding constitutional principles of Jackson v. Indiana to the Spinosa case.
authors.affiliation: Dr. Lowry is Legal Director, Connecticut Legal Rights Project, Middletown, CT. klowry@clrp.org.
authors.forename: Kirk W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Lowry
mesh_terms: D003134:Commitment of Persons with Psychiatric Disorders / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D057237:Criminals / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007196:Indiana; D016743:Mental Competency; D009922:Oregon; D010351:Patient Discharge; D035521:Supreme Court Decisions; D014481:United States