Deputy State’s Attorney urges narrow competency-restoration pathway, proposing forensic placement after insanity verdicts

Jared Bianchi, a deputy state’s attorney who prosecutes in Bennington County, told the Judiciary committee on April 8 that the state lacks a clear competency-restoration pathway for the small number of people charged with life offenses and who either become incompetent pretrial or are later adjudicated not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI). Bianchi said S.193, as he proposed to amend it, is narrowly drawn to address those highest-acuity cases and to balance public safety with defendants’ due-process rights.

Bianchi framed the problem with a recent case in which a defendant admitted to second-degree murder but became ill before sentencing. "We were not able to proceed the sentencing at that stage because he was no longer competent," he said, describing how the absence of a restoration program meant the case stalled and the defendant later died. He told the panel that the current system can leave defendants either housed in Department of Corrections (DOC) custody without restoration services or released to the community without a meaningful process.

The testimony…