Opinion
No. 2: 08-cr-20219-STA
11-28-2011
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. STANLEY SANDERS, Defendant.
ORDER COMMITTING DEFENDANT FOR A PERIOD OF MENTAL HEALTH
TREATMENT PURSUANT TO 18 U.S.C. § 4241(d)
Before the Court is a letter from the Warden of the Federal Correctional Institution in Butner, North Carolina, regarding the results of Defendant's mental health evaluation. In the opinion of the evaluator, Defendant suffers from a severe mental disease or defect. As a result of this mental disease or defect, the evaluator found that Defendant is unable to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against him or to assist properly in his defense. The evaluator stated that Defendant is not competent to proceed, and he was recommended for a period of mental health treatment, which would include the administration of antipsychotic medications, under 18 U.S.C. § 4241(d).
Section 4241(d) provides that
if the defendant is presently suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering him mentally incompetent to the extent that he is unable to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against him or to assist properly in his defense, the court shall commit the defendant to the custody of the Attorney General.Based on the representations of the Federal Correctional Institution, the Court finds that Defendant is presently suffering from a mental disease or defect and that he cannot understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against him or assist properly in his defense. Therefore, pursuant to § 4241(d), he is committed to the custody of the Attorney General. The Attorney General shall hospitalize Defendant for treatment in a suitable facility for a reasonable time, not to exceed four months, as is necessary to determine whether there is a substantial probability that in the foreseeable future he will attain the capacity to permit the proceedings to go forward.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
S. THOMAS ANDERSON
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE