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September 14, 2012 - Attorney Steven J. Topazio
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Law Offices of Steven J. Topazio
44 School Street
Suite 1000C
Boston, MA 02108
Home❱September 14, 2012

September 14, 2012

The client, a 28 year old individual with a history of mental illness, was arrested and held in custody after committing several counts of assault and battery, was represented by Boston Criminal Defense Attorney Steven J. Topazio. The client’s history of mental illness raised issues of competency to stand trial. In Massachusetts, before a defendant can be prosecuted it must be clear to the court that she is competent to stand trial. A defendant is competent if she is aware of the purpose of the legal proceedings, the roles of all the players in the court proceedings, and how such a proceeding is conducted. Most importantly, the defendant must be able to participate in her defense and be able to communicate effectively with her attorney and be able to assist him in that defense. If the court determines that a defendant is incompetent to stand trial, she can be committed to a mental hospital (while the charges remain open) until she regains her competency.

Prior to Attorney Topazio’s involvement with these cases, Attorney Topazio discovered that his new client was evaluated on the issues of criminal responsibility and competency. During the course of a competency evaluation, the client was accused of committing additional crimes and charged. Although the client was found to be both competent to stand trial and criminally responsible, Attorney Topazio was aware that in addition to major mental illnesses, cognitive difficulties, if severe enough, may also impact criminal responsibility and competence to stand trial issues. Today, Attorney Topazio was able to resolve his client’s cased by convincing the court to accept an Alford plea to a sentence of time served. An Alford plea allows the defendant to admit that sufficient evidence exists with which the prosecution could likely convince a judge or jury to find the defendant guilty, but at the same time allows the defendant to maintain her innocence. An Alford plea allows a defendant to say “I’m guilty but I didn’t do it”.