State v. Coley

¶1 There is a general presumption in this state that a defendant is competent to stand trial and assist in his own defense. Based on this presumption of competency, the defendant bears the burden of proof to show that he is incompetent to stand trial. Here, the court had concluded that the defendant was incompetent and sent him for evaluation and treatment. In the follow-up competency hearing, the court imposed the burden to prove incompetency on the defendant after erroneously concluding that the most recent order declared the defendant competent. We conclude that this was structural error…