CLEVELAND — Legal Analysis: With two recent high profile Cuyahoga County criminal cases resulting in the defendants being ruled incompetent to stand trial, let’s break down exactly what that means.
Legally speaking, their legal proceedings are far from over.
That’s because both Bionca Ellis and De’Lawnte Hardy have been determined to have “a substantial probability of restoration to competency.”
Ellis, who is 33, is accused of killing 3-year-old Julian Wood in a double stabbing outside of a Giant Eagle in North Olmsted.
Hardy, age 25, is accused of killing Cleveland police officer Jamieson Ritter on July 4, and separately his own grandmother.
The reason they’ve both been determined to be incompetent to stand trial right now is the judges in their cases believe they are either incapable of understanding the proceedings against them, or incapable of assisting in their own defense.
Ellis is being treated at North Coast Behavioral Health, and Hardy will get his treatment at Twin Valley Behavioral Healthcare in Columbus.
The treatment has been ordered to try to restore them each to competency, so that they can eventually stand trial for the charges against them.
Because these two face murder charges, they can receive treatment for up to one year to try to restore their competency to stand trial. They can be found to be competent at any point during that one year period, and would then stand trial.
If the year passes and they’re still found to be incompetent, in murder cases, then the court can hand over custody of the defendant to the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. In their custody, they’ll likely to be hospitalized for years and their competency will be re-evaluated every two years.
Now, if you’re wondering what the difference is between being ruled incompetent to stand trial, and pleading not guilty by reason of insanity, it boils down to two things.
First, pleading not guilty by reason of insanity is an affirmative defense. That means that even if the person did what they’re accused of, that person was not aware that what they were doing was wrong.
And second, to be as explicit as possible, a not guilty by reason of insanity plea is about a person’s mental state at the time of the alleged crime.
Being ruled incompetent to stand trial is all about a person’s mental state after the alleged criminal action, at the time of trial, and it doesn’t have anything to do with the actual crime that a person is accused of committing.
Stephanie Haney is licensed to practice law in both Ohio and California.
The information in this article and video is provided for general informational purposes only. None of the information in this article and video is offered, nor should it be construed, as legal advice on any matter.