Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
"No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."
I really don't know if James Holmes is sane or insane, But I do know that just judging by what he's allegedly done, and without any obvious signs of extreme religious fundamentalism or ideology at all -- in my mind he's insane.
I just don't think he should have to (1) give up his Fifth Amendment right, (2) ingest pharmaceuticals, (3) then be strapped to a gurney, and (4) be questioned while in a state of unconsciousness -- just to prove it.
This just seems to me like yet another overreaching interpretation by a 'non-strict-constructionist' judge ignoring yet another [important] section of our Bill of Rights.
From The Guardian U.K. (link to bio added)
Judge William Sylvester ruled that in the event of Holmes pleading insanity his prosecutors would be permitted to interrogate him while he is under the influence of a medical drug designed to loosen him up and get him to talk. The idea would be that such a "narcoanalytic interview" would be used to confirm whether or not he had been legally insane when he embarked on his shooting spree on 20 July last year.
The precise identity of the drug that would be used has not been released, other than a statement that it would be "medically appropriate", but it would most likely be a short-acting barbiturate such as sodium amytal.
And, from a [non-Scalia-type] real constructionist:
William Shepherd, chair of the Criminal Justice Section of the American Bar Association, whose members include both prosecutors and defence lawyers, said that the proposed use of a "truth drug" to ascertain the veracity of a defendant's plea of insanity was highly unusual in the US. He predicted it would provoke intense legal argument relating to Holmes's right to remain silent under the fifth amendment of the US constitution.
"If a defendant loses his right to remain silent because the court has authorised the use of drugs that make him talk, that would raise all sorts of fifth amendment issues that both sides would have to address."
Shepherd also questioned what the trial jury's reaction would be to this prosecutorial strategy:
Shepherd also wondered whether some members of the trial jury would object to "the sound of the government forcing a truth serum down the throat of a defendant".
There are very few recorded instances of "truth drugs" being applied to criminal trials in the US. One such case was the 1959 prosecution in California of Raymond Cartier, who was charged with killing his wife after a drunken night out.
(link added)
According to the court record, "truth serum" was given in order in support of the claim Cartier was insane at the time of the killing. In Holmes' case, the drug will be administered in support of the prosecution's assertion that Holmes was not insane at the time of the mass-killing.
Twelve people were killed and another fifty-eight people injured in the shooting spree that occurred at the Century 16 Cinema in Aurora, Colorado on Friday, July 20, 2012. A plea of not guilty was entered for the defendant by the judge on Tuesday after Holmes' attorney told the court that the defendant was not yet ready to enter a plea on his own.
Medical experts have also criticized the judge's decision. Psychiatrist Dr. August Piper, a psychiatrist based in Seattle, Washington has worked with the drug thought to be used on Holmes if the process moved forward. "Amytal" is classified as a short-term barbiturate. Piper used the drug to treat patients who were mute or in a catatonic state. Piper has also written research papers on the drug. Apparently, the drug is often used in the treatment of insomnia.
Dr. Piper:
"First of all, people can still lie under the influence of amytal. More importantly, the person under the influence of the drug is susceptible to outside suggestion."
Regarding the Judge's decision:
"not a royal road to the truth".
Here's a brief
product description by the manufacturer, Marathon Pharmaceuticals:
Description
Amytal® Sodium is a barbiturate derivative. Barbituates are non-selective central nervous system (CNS) depressants that are primarily used as sedative hypnotics.
As a barbiturate, Amytal Sodium depresses the sensory cortex, decreases motor activity, alters cerebellar function and produces drowsiness, sedation and hypnosis.
Dr. Piper also questioned whether the drug should be used at all to extract information from Holmes' from more than eight months ago. Apparently, Piper thinks a better, more effective use of the drug would be to determine the current state of mind of the defendant.
"To try and do this would be unlikely to yield useful information, and could pervert the course of justice by rendering the defendant susceptible to pressure," Piper said.
Piper's assertions are also backed up by other experts. One such expert is Steven Hoge, a clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University in New York:
"no great evidence to support that narcoanalytic interviews lead to the truth by any means".
Hoge was unsuccessful in his own effort to conduct a "narcoanalytic interview" during a case involving a man who had been inebriated to the point he had no recollection of what happened.
In Holmes' case, Hoge questioned whether memory issues would even be relevant in the diagnosis of state of mind at the time of the mass killing.
"It's hard to see what the value of this procedure would be, unless his memory of the shooting is in question," he said.
'Nuff said.