Alaska appeals court says nearly a year in jail awaiting competency treatment was unconstitutional and orders dismissal
In a July 17, 2020 decision, the Alaska Court of Appeals found that a man identified as J.K., charged with a misdemeanor in Juneau in March 2018, had been held far too long awaiting competency restoration. He had spent 143 days in jail before a defender sought an evaluation, 149 days before a judge ordered treatment, and in September 2018 was told he was number 26 on the waitlist for the hospital's 10 restoration beds. Prosecutors dropped the case in February 2019 after an appeal, then began civil proceedings that could keep him in custody.
Chief Judge Marjorie Allard wrote for a three-judge panel that the time he waited was unacceptable and a clear violation of his constitutional rights. The court declined to set a transfer deadline, noting a separate case in Anchorage might do so, but pointed out that Oregon and Washington use seven-day limits and other states 21 or 30 days. It also observed that a Fairbanks judge had ruled the previous year that holding incompetent defendants in jails or emergency rooms must stop.
The decision came after the backlog the Daily News documented in 2019 and put an appellate finding behind the argument that long restoration waits violate due process.
Source: Overcrowding at API leaves man with mental illness in jail for nearly a year, as state court warns of ‘unacceptable’ wait times — Anchorage Daily News, by James Brooks
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