On October 16 the U.S. Supreme Court will hear argu­ments in Kansas v. Cheever. One of the key defense wit­ness­es in Scott Cheever’s death penal­ty tri­al tes­ti­fied that Cheever’s use of drugs impaired his judge­ment on the day of the crime. Prosecutors, in turn, called the physi­cian who per­formed Cheever’s court-man­dat­ed men­tal exam, and he tes­ti­fied that Cheever was aware of what he was doing when he com­mit­ted the crime, based on Cheever’s own state­ments to the doc­tor. The doc­tor’s tes­ti­mo­ny prompt­ed the Kansas Supreme Court to over­turn Cheever’s con­vic­tion because pros­e­cu­tors had vio­lat­ed Cheever’s Fifth Amendment right against self-incrim­i­na­tion. Following oral argu­ment, the Court will decide whether Cheever must be retried or his con­vic­tion and death sentence stands. 

(H. Laviana, ​“U.S. Supreme Court to decide on retri­al of Kansas death penal­ty case,” Wichita Eagle, October 13, 2013). See Mental Illness and U.S. Supreme Court.

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