Court Opinion

ID: 9687747
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 16:46:17.165142+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:31.167403
License: Public Domain

HEFLIN, Chief Justice
(concurring):
If “sufficient doubt” of the mental capacity of the defendant to stand trial had been shown then I would have been of the opinion that a hearing should have been held separate from the trial to determine the defendant’s mental capacity to stand trial. See Pate v. Robinson, 383 U.S. 375, 86 S.Ct. 836, 15 L.Ed.2d 815. See also my dissenting opinion in Seibold v. State, 287 Ala. 549, 253 So.2d 302.
While the defendant did interpose a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, he withdrew such plea before it went to the jury. A review of the record in this case indicates that there was not manifested during the trial “sufficient doubt” pertaining to the mental competency of the defendant to stand trial so as to justify a hearing on that issue.
I, therefore, concur in the opinion.