South Carolina Supreme Court rules courts cannot commit an incompetent, unrestorable defendant to a disability-services facility
The case, State v. Linkhorn, involved a man charged with sex offenses against children who was found incompetent to stand trial with little prospect of regaining competence. A circuit court ordered the solicitor to start commitment proceedings and directed the Department of Disabilities and Special Needs to take custody, but DDSN appealed.
The state's high court held that the commitment statute reaches only people whose intellectual disability appeared before age 22, and the defendant was not diagnosed until 23. It also read an exception allowing jail confinement when criminal charges are pending, and said any needed fix is for the legislature.
The ruling shows a gap for unrestorable defendants who fall outside available civil commitment pathways.
Source: South Carolina S.C. Refuses to Order Defendant Maimed from Jail to Psych Hospital — Prison Legal News, by Lonnie Burton
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