State v. Cheever
Annotate this CaseA jury convicted Defendant of, among other crimes, capital murder and four counts of attempted capital murder. Defendant was sentenced to death on the capital offense. On appeal, the Supreme Court reversed Defendant's convictions for capital murder and attempted capital murder and remanded for a new trial, holding (1) the trial court's decision to allow the State's psychiatric expert to testify based on his court-ordered mental examination of Defendant, when Defendant had not waived his privilege under the Fifth Amendment in that examination by presenting a mental disease or defect defense at trial, violated Defendant's privilege against compulsory self-incrimination secured by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments; and (2) this constitutional error could not be declared harmless.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.