What Defense Counsel Should Document Before Requesting a 730 Exam

Stephan M. Carlson, MD, MBA, FAPA · Criminal Competency and Responsibility

The quality of a CPL 730 evaluation is often set before the examiner is ever appointed. What counsel records in the weeks leading up to the order—the specific things the client did, said, and failed to do—frequently shapes the opinion more than the examination itself. The order is only as good as the doubt behind it A motion under CPL 730.30 follows from the court's reasonable ground to believe a defendant may be an incapacitated person—one who, owing to mental disease or defect, lacks capacity to understand the proceedings against him or to assist in his own defense (CPL 730.10[1]). That standard is functional, not diagnostic. The court is not asking whether the client is mentally ill; it i

Most relevant service: Competency & Criminal Responsibility Evaluations