People v. Palmer: Amnesia and Competency to Proceed Revisited

Abstract

Claims of amnesia are quite common in defendants charged with serious crimes, and courts have rarely dealt adequately with the problem. The Colorado Court of Appeals and the Colorado Supreme Court recently did attempt to deal with the substantive issues in a case of first impression in the state. This article discusses those decisions in the context of a detailed review of the case law, clinical, and legal articles on the subject and concludes that, at least in the case of temporary amnesia, courts should defer final determinations of competency to stand trial until adequate efforts to evaluate and treat amnestic defendants have been made.