The Wisconsin Supreme Court has issued rulings in two cases involving defendants found mentally incompetent.
In the first case, a woman charged with slapping a nurse at the Milwaukee County Jail challenged a circuit court order requiring her to be involuntarily medicated. The Supreme Court said the law doesn’t give a circuit judge authority to order involuntary medication solely because “the court finds a defendant as dangerous,” voting 6-1. Meanwhile, the court ruled unanimously in favor of the State in a case involving a man involuntarily committed for six months. The man argued a judge shouldn’t have proceeded with his hearing since his attorneys didn’t receive two reports from psychiatrists until less than two days before the hearing, with the court saying it was harmless to his defense.
