Connecticut Supreme Court Rules Defendant Can Be Forced to Take Medication

Connecticut Supreme Court Rules Defendant Can
Be Forced to Take Medication

The state Supreme Court ruled on Friday that possession of more than 8 pounds of marijuana is a serious enough charge to warrant forcing medication on a defendant so he is competent to stand trial.

The high court's 7-0 ruling came in the case of 30-year-old Christopher Seekins of Torrington, who authorities say has been ruled incompetent to stand trial because he refuses to take psychotropic medication for bipolar disorder. Justices upheld a lower court judge's order to medicate Seekins against his will.

State law says a defendant can be involuntarily medicated if the crime is serious enough and there is an overriding law enforcement interest in determining whether the defendant is innocent or guilty. Seekins argued that possessing marijuana isn't a serious crime.

www.foxnews.com...

Brace urself boys and girls,
the gubment can now medicate
u against ur will.

I wonder how many lawsuits
this judgment is gonna bring out???

Gestapo: Papers Please? Now take ur meds
or u die?

Let us go down the list here:

Naked body scanners at airports
Government can assassinated suspected threats
Wiretapping phone lines
Require you purchase a private insurance
Arizona requiring you to have your papers
Connecticut judge’s ruling they can force you to take medication

I’m sure there are more items to add to that list but that about sums it up.

If this man is incompetent they should either have to wait on him to become competent or just have a trial with him being incompetent. I am not a professor of law obviously but if I had to make the decision I would just let the fool wait in jail until he become competent or voluntarily takes his medication. We don’t have the right to enforce anything on another person. The government is something no one can escape from so when they believe they can enforce something upon you against your will that is when I take issue.

what the court has decided is illegal, end of discussion.

Originally posted by indigothefish
what the court has decided is illegal, end of discussion.

there seems to be a lot of that
going around these days.
Gov doing illegal things
everywhere.

where does it all end ???

Well, I agree with the courts that the charges are severe enough according to their laws. However, I didn't know that being bipolar meant that he was incompetent to stand trial. Unless he had an extremely severe case, it shouldn't prevent him from understanding the charges against him or assisting in his defense. If 12 year olds are competent to stand trial as adults, then the unmedicated bipolar people that I've known are, too.

so this brings up another question.
What if the gov decides you have an illness
after u r arrested that u have never been
diagnosed with before, can they prescribe
certain medication based on that assessment?

[Mental Health Case Manager here] This is nothing new. In California, those with a mental illness who are hospitalized involuntarily can be court ordered to be medicated involuntarily. However, during the 72-hour hold, there must be probable cause shown that the person is either/or a danger to themselves (i.e., suicidal), a danger to others (homicidal) or gravely disabled because of a mental illness. Gravely disabled means the person is unable to eat or find food for themselves, eating spoiled food, refusing food, etc. Or, put themselves in unsafe situations (i.e., running into traffic, not dressed appropriately for weather (i.e., running around in underwear when it's very cold). Then and only then can they be hospitalized. Once in a hospital, if they refuse medications the hospital must file a REISE order with the local court. The patient has a right to a client advocate for their own defense. A hearing officer comes in and hears the case and decides yea or nea. Note that if the patient accepts so much as an aspirin, no REISE order is filed. The amount of time being held inpatient is limited to 14 days unless further court action is sought.

I find it hard to believe that this was done merely because of the bag of pot. Trust me, there is more to this story and my bet is this guy has a long history of mental illness and has repeatedly refused outpatient treatment.

Not saying I agree with it, but I think there is more to this story.

reply to post by boondock-saint


Depending on the severity of his bipolar disorder, I think it's pretty reasonable to have him admitted into a psychiatric hospital and be treated / medicated.

And no, it's not comparable to a gestapo agent getting you to take your medication, especially if his bipolar disorder played a large part in interfering with his life. However, obviously mental health issues are obviously controversial and a cause for concern, and should be an issue to watch closely.

8 lbs of pot?
c'mon

I could understand if murder or something
was involved here. But 8 lbs of pot?
What's next? Forced medication
cuz I got a speeding ticket ???

I agree with rockerchic

there's something else
to this story we ain't hearing
about.

reply to post by Rockerchic4God


I bet! Like the breast milk lady with the TSA has a long history of transporting nukes in her boobs..

Things are going south my friend... and they're taking the surface with them to feign keeping afloat..

reply to post by boondock-saint


This is very very disturbing to say the least. It tells me 1) that Connecticut is in serious need of real medical marijuana laws, and 2) pharmaceutical companies are vile, evil entities.

The poor man obviously uses marijuana to help his bi-polar disorder. Heck, if it was California he could've already gotten a medical marijuana ID card.

Most people are unaware that one of the cannabanoids in marijuana, cannabidiol, is actually an anti-psychotic. Read this wikipedia article about it: en.wikipedia.org...

Big Pharma is a serious, serious problem indeed.

...check out this 05.05.2006 article...
www.washingtonpost.com...

100 marijuana plants in his house.

The state agreed to drop other charges, such as possession of marijuana with intent to sell. Seekins will have to perform 300 hours of community service and refrain from possessing or using illegal drugs.

...it could be that his lawyer used the bi-polar excuse as a defense stance and seekens went along with it until he ended up in the looney bin... just because its fairly common for some mentally ill people to refuse meds, that does not mean seekens is one of them...

...or it could be that seekens really is nuttier than a fruitcake... if so, does that give him a free pass to grow pot or sell it to your kid?...

reply to post by Rockerchic4God
in phx i have been court ordered to co-operate with the behavioral health provider-magellan, for one year of "help" i was mandated by a two bit psych doc from pakistan -never appeared before a judge now that
the c.o.t. procedure has been "streamlined"- i read the board notes to learn that a nick magiotta from the phx police is now on the board of magellan..getting the picture ?..your problems will be criminalized.
i was held down and had haldol injected in my ass twice-
a pick up order issued if i defy the court order. gun to my head treatment.
if they can find me-
this was all stemming from my depression to have fibromyalgia
and 2 year struggle to get SSD..
suicide in over 50 is spiking.