According to the Constitution of the United States, all individuals have the right to a speedy (and fair) trial. According to the state of Mississippi, defendants have the right to trial within 270 days of their arraignment, unless their attorney agrees to a delay. So why has Steven Jessie Harris been in a Mississippi jail since October 2005 without a trial?
Well …
Harris is a diagnosed schizophrenic. Perhaps that is all you need to know. Persons with mental disabilities appear to be the easiest to lose track of in the criminal justice system. One reason is the dearth of mental health resources in most states. And dearth may be the wrong word—slash and burn may better accurately reflect the budget realities in states such as Mississippi. Thirty slots for psychiatric patients have been cut so far this year, and it’s only May.
The other reason, of course, is what happens when the mentally ill are placed into the criminal justice system instead of the mental health system. Legal delays and technicalities have dogged Harris since his initial arrest, leading up to his 11 years behind bars without a trial.
On July 9, 2007, doctors at Whitfield admitted Harris for a mental evaluation, concluding he “was demonstrating symptoms of a major mental illness,” schizophrenia. [… ]
In a final report on April 13, 2008, doctors concluded Harris was incompetent to waive his constitutional rights or to stand trial. [...]
Circuit Judge Lee J. Howard continued Harris’ trial twice in 2009 and again in 2010.
After Whitfield doctors reiterated their conclusions in a hearing, Howard concluded Oct. 20, 2010, that Harris wasn’t competent to stand trial and removed the case to Chancery Court.
That same day, a Clay County judge ruled the court could not hear the case because of Harris’ pending charges.
More info on Harris’ case is available at the Clarion-Ledger website. The newspaper’s series, titled “Blinded Justice,” looks at how “justice and punishment are dispensed across Mississippi in wildly varying ways.”