Opinion ID: 3033156
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Post-Sell Hearing

Text: After Grape’s Sell hearing, his mental condition continued to deteriorate, and on October 25, 2007, Grape physically and verbally assaulted a Springfield correctional officer. Springfield held a Harper hearing that day, during which it determined that Grape qualified for forcible medication under the Harper standard because he presented a danger to others and the treatment was in his medical interest. See 494 U.S. at 225-27. Staff began forcibly medicating Grape immediately. According to the Government, Grape’s understanding and behavior improved significantly over the course of his first months on antipsychotic medications. As of April 2, 2008, the warden of Springfield deemed Grape competent to stand trial, as noted in a letter to the District Court. The District Court subsequently found Grape competent to stand trial and ordered him discharged from Springfield to the Erie County Prison in Erie, Pennsylvania. 12 Grape acknowledges that although he was deemed competent to stand trial, he voluntarily stopped taking his antipsychotic medication at the end of June 2008, and has received no antipsychotic medicine since that time. In fact, at oral argument, Grape’s counsel represented that he had recently met with Grape and already witnessed him exhibiting signs of cognitive slippage. Grape’s counsel also reported that while on the antipsychotic medication, Grape suffered terrible side effects, including shaking, body aches, and EPS. Recognizing that the state of his competency is not static, Grape therefore wishes to maintain this appeal in the event that he again becomes incompetent and the Government attempts to use the original District Court order to forcibly medicate him. The Government has not indicated that it would not use the District Court order to involuntarily medicate Grape in the future if the need arises.