United States v. Simon Dillon

EDWARDS, Senior Circuit Judge:

This appeal contests the District Court’s order authorizing the Government to medicate Defendant-Appellant Simon Dillon, by force if necessary, for the sole purpose of rendering him competent to stand trial. We review this matter with a sobering awareness that requiring a person to take unwanted psychotropic medication entails a grave deprivation of a liberty interest protected by the Due Process Clause. See Washington v. Harper, 494 U.S. 210, 221, 110 S.Ct. 1028, 108 L.Ed.2d 178 (1990) (noting that an individual “possesses a significant liberty interest in…