Opinion ID: 1533871
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 28

Heading: Joint Call to Prison Regarding the Dosage of Appellant's Medication

Text: Appellant asserts that he is entitled to an evidentiary hearing to determine whether the prosecutor directed prison officials to change Appellant's medication so that he did not appear to be so subdued as to be incapable of committing the crime. No such hearing is warranted. Apparently, both the prosecutor and Appellant made calls to prison officials. The prosecutor merely observed that at the first trial Appellant appeared to be overmedicated. Trial counsel for the defendant testified at the post-sentence hearing that the level of medication was not a factor in determining whether the defendant should or should not testify[.] N.T. 12/20/99 at 40-41. Additionally, defense counsel admitted that he believed that Mr. Ogrod was receiving his medication consistent with good medical practice and that it was not designed in order to make him appeared [sic] to be less than competent. Id. Thus, this claim and the associated ineffective assistance of counsel claim lack merit.