State v. Bean

*292Dooley, J.

Defendant, Ronald Bean, appeals from a conviction for kidnapping and violation of an abuse prevention order, arising out of an incident on February 18,1993 in which he restrained Judith Bean, his mother, in her home and threatened to kill her. He argues that the trial court erred in failing to find him incompetent to stand trial and to allow him to represent himself. We agree that in order to prevent assertion of an insanity defense defendant should have been able to represent himself. We reverse and remand.

To evaluate defendant’s claims on appeal, we begin with a history of the…