People v. Rath

The defendant, James Rath, appeals a declaration of his unfitness to stand trial following a jury trial in the circuit court of La Salle County. The defendant had been charged with four counts of forgery.

At various times during the pretrial proceedings the defendant claimed to be the royal son of the Sultan of Turkey and Ethel Barrymore, a diplomat with immunity from prosecution, a doctor and an attorney.

The court believed that on the basis of these initial allegations, a bona fide doubt existed as to the defendant’s fitness to stand trial and ordered, over defendant’s objection, that he be…