GPDSC  
About UsResourcesCPD SystemPress Room
Google  GPDSC Internet
Quicklinks

About OMHA
Seminars
Psych Meds 101

American Psychological Association
American Academy pf Psychiatry and the Law
Legal Aid-GA
NAMI
Georgia Association of Community Service Boards By-Laws
American Academy of Forensic Psychology
Consensus Project

Sabrina Rhinehart
Mental Health Advocate

Alicia Thomas
Senior Staff Attorney

Charles Hess
Staff Attorney

Susan Myrick
Paralegal


Office of the Mental
Health Advocate

225 Peachtree Street
Suite 900, South Tower
Atlanta, GA 30303
(404) 739-5151
(800) 676-4432
Fax: (404) 651-5706

Contact Us


Site Design by Arno



Mental Health Advocate
resourcescontact us

The Standard of Review for Competency Challenged

On January 24, 2005, the Georgia Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of Sims v. State of Georgia which originated in Clarke County. In granting certiorari, the Court asked the parties to define the appropriate standard of review for appellate cases arising from competency proceedings at the criminal trial court level.

Attorney Jo Carol Nesset-Sale gave a wonderful argument on behalf of Willie Sims. While conceding the importance of appellate courts’ deference to jury verdicts, she urged the Court to apply non-deferential review when an expert’s testimony influencing a special competency jury’s findings was based on a flawed understanding of the law. In this case, the expert for the State testified before the competency jury that although Sims had an IQ of 45 and functioned at a low level, it was the attorney’s role to tell the defendant what he should do and the defendant need only cooperate and “do what he was told.” Nesset-Sale argued that the State’s expert did not know that certain decisions belong solely to the client and he must therefore be competent to make those fundamental decisions about his case.

This case is one of several cases that will shape the future rights of mentally ill defendants. Congratulations on a job well done, Jo Carol Nesset-Sale! Sidney Leighton Moore III and John Bonds joined her in representing Mr. Sims, and Jim Bonner of GPDSC, Sabrina Rhinehart of OMHA, Sarah M. Shalf, and Michael Brian Terry also filed an Amicus brief on Mr. Sims’ behalf.

 

Our Mission
The Office of the Mental Health Advocate (OMHA) was created by statute in 1996 to provide services to attorneys representing criminal defendants with mental health challenges. OMHA monitors cases in Georgia involving pleas of Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGRI) and it directly represents a limited number of insanity acquittees.  We provide services state-wide as a way of assisting attorneys, the hospitals, and the courts in criminal cases involving mentally ill defendants.

PDF Some files on this page, denoted by the icon to the left, require the Adobe Acrobat Reader. You may download the software, free of charge, by clicking here.


DOC Some files on this page, denoted by the icon to the left, require Microsoft Word. If you do not have the software, you may download the Microsoft Word Viewer, free of charge, by clicking here.