(Getting off-topic here, but the vast majority of the mentally ill are far, far more likely to be the victims of crime than the perpetrators, and again the great majority are non-violent. But I agree that better mental health and other health coverage is needed. Part of the problem is that schizophrenia generally emerges during late teens/young adulthood, when one is more likely to be out on one’s own and in the process of trying out many different things, so “unusual” behavior doesn’t ring quite as many warning bells.)
Questioned about what, though? The article doesn’t say that the questions to determine his mental competency are going to be questions about the case, unless I am misreading it. Why, then, would the questioning be considered improper?
Did you imagine killing lots of people? Did you do the killing? etc. If you were wrongly accused, would you like to be drugged up and asked these questions? Now we all assume that this guy is nuts and the right guy, but the power to put somebody under narcotics and ask a bunch of questions is troubling. Not as troubling as having a predator drone blow his ass up, but I’d rather have a presumption of innocence and the right to stay silent completely if it were me.
Mm, well, there’s not a lot of detail as to what will actually be asked. The article just says the drug and polygraph will be used “as part of an evaluation to determine if he was legally insane at the time of the July 20 shootings.” There’s nothing about whether he will actually be interrogated about the murder proper, or just asked questions to try to establish his sanity. There are, for instance, psychological questionnaires like the MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) that include questions to attempt to catch people who are just “acting” crazy versus those actually experiencing a mental illness.
Here’s my guess: this testing is being done to see if it will convince the prosecutor to offer or accept a plea bargain arrangement the will eliminate a trial altogether. Whatever evidence is gained couldn’t be used in the trial, but it might prevent the trial from happening.
Thanks. That’s what I was trying to get at.