McLaren v. State

POX, Justice.

[¶1] Steven D. McLaren challenges convictions for five felonies stemming from a bizarre and violent encounter with his girlfriend in March of 2014. He claims that the trial court violated his due process rights when it failed to order a third competency evaluation and when it allowed defense counsel to assert a plea of not guilty by reason of mental illness (NGMI) against his will. He also argues that the jury instructions contained structural error because they did not require the State to prove he did not act in a sudden heat of passion to establish attempted second-degree…