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Senate Judiciary hears testimony on S.193 to create forensic competency-restoration pathway for small number of serious cases
Summary
State's attorneys and a judge described S.193 as a narrowly tailored bill to provide competency restoration and placements in secure forensic facilities for a small subset of life-offense cases; the committee deferred votes and asked for edits and additional stakeholder input.
State's attorneys and a judge told the Senate Judiciary committee on Feb. 12 that S.193 would create a forensic competency-restoration pathway for a small number of serious cases and is modeled in part on a federal statute.
Jared Bianchi, a Bennington County state's attorney testifying for the state's attorneys and sheriffs, said the bill would provide a restorative process in an appropriate forensic facility so people who are not currently competent can access the criminal process. "Competency has to do with the defendant's ability at a given moment to engage with the trial process, to talk with his attorney... to aid in their own defense," Bianchi said.
Bianchi distinguished competency from…
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