People v. Stahl

Due to brain damage from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, defendant cannot remember the events leading to home invasion (720 ILCS 5/12-11(a)(4)) and aggravated unlawful restraint (720 ILCS 5/10-3.1(a)) charges against him. Defendant had entered the home of his former wife and child, despite an order of protection, and threatened the occupants with a gun before shooting himself.The trial court found defendant unfit to stand trial. Later, after a discharge hearing, he was found “not not guilty.” The court remanded him to the Department of Human Services (DHS) for extended terms of treatment of 24 months for home invasion and 15 months for unlawful restraint. After DHS determined that defendant had been restored to fitness, the trial court held a hearing and found that defendant remained unfit to stand trial and that it was not reasonably probable that he would be fit within one year. The appellate court and Illinois Supreme Court affirmed. All three psychiatric experts concluded that defendant had no recollection of the events leading to the charges against him, or of what occurred up to 48 hours prior to those events. Two of the psychiatrists concluded that defendant’s short-term memory was substantially impaired and would affect his ability to assist in his own defense. The third acknowledged that defendant ranked in the lowest one percentile with regard to short-term memory retention after 20 to 30 minutes. View "People v. Stahl" on Justia Law