Q: What can be done when a defendent has dementia, irreversible and untreatable whose attorney is pressuring to take a plea
78 year old defendent in a Federal criminal case has dementia, heart disease, prostate cancer and COPD. Physical conditions severely limit time he can spend with attorney but worse, his dementia prevents him from processing/comprehending,remembering and retaining information. Volumes of medical documentation have been provided by independent, unaffiliated experts on his mental/physical impairments - still his defense attorney treats him as though he was fully capable in participating in his defense
A:
You should probably trust your attorney. But, if you are convinced that your attorney is wrong to not consider some sort of diminished capacity defense or the fact that the defendant is unable to understand the proceedings, you should think about hiring another attorney and mental health practitioner to evaluate this.
Troy Pickard Portland Defender 1001 Southwest 5th Avenue Suite 1100 Portland, OR 97204 (503) 592-0606 www.portlandcriminalattorneyor.com
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