Gatlin v. State

Lewis Gatlin filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus challenging the trial court’s *203order finding him incompetent to proceed in a criminal case and directing that he be involuntarily committed to the Department of Children and Family Services (DCF). By order, we treated the petition as a petition for writ of certiorari1 and granted relief. We write to explain our decision.

Gatlin was charged with robbery. The trial court entered an order for competency evaluation and psychiatric evaluation return, appointing two mental health experts to determine whether Gatlin was competent to proceed to…