Opinion ID: 2277667
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: criteria for determining competence

Text: The protocol established by my colleagues provides, in pertinent part: ... we adopt the cognitive test, and hold that under Tennessee law a prisoner is not competent to be executed if the prisoner lacks the mental capacity to understand the fact of the impending execution and the reason for it. Noticeably absent from this criterion is any reference to the prisoner's ability to assist counsel. Without inclusion of the assistance prong, it is conceivable that a prisoner could be deemed competent to be executed despite an inability to assist counsel. In considering the criteria for determining competence for execution, the majority compares the standard discussed by Justice Powell in Ford v. Wainwright [2] with the common-law rule. According to Justice Powell, the Eighth Amendment forbids the execution only of those who are unaware of the punishment they are about to suffer and the reason they are to suffer it. Ford, 477 U.S. at 422, 106 S.Ct. at 2608. As noted by the majority, however, the common-law rule would additionally require that the prisoner be able to consult with and assist his or her lawyer. This additional common-law requirement is called the assistance prong, and it has been adopted by several states as part of the criteria to determine if a prisoner is competent to be executed. [3] After conceding that Tennessee currently includes the assistance prong as a criterion for determining whether a defendant is competent to stand trial or to plead guilty, [4] the majority nonetheless decides that a prisoner may be deemed competent to be executed even if he or she is unable to consult with and assist counsel. I strongly disagree. By analogy to the test now applied to determine competence to stand trial or to plead guilty, I would include the assistance prong as part of the criteria to determine if a prisoner is competent to be executed in Tennessee. After all, of what benefit is counsel if one is unable to assist that counsel?