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2025 Vermont Statutes
Title 13 - Crimes and Criminal Procedure
Chapter 157 - Insanity as a Defense
§ 4817. Competency to stand trial; determination

Universal Citation:
13 VT Stats § 4817
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§ 4817. Competency to stand trial; determination

(a) A defendant shall be presumed to be competent and shall have the burden of proving incompetency by a preponderance of the evidence.

(b) A person shall not be tried for a criminal offense if the person is found incompetent to stand trial by a preponderance of the evidence.

(c) If a person indicted, complained, or informed against for an alleged criminal offense, an attorney or guardian acting in the person’s behalf, or the State, at any time before final judgment, raises before the court before which such person is tried or is to be tried, the issue of whether such person is incompetent to stand trial, or if the court has reason to believe that such person may not be competent to stand trial, a hearing shall be held before such court at which evidence shall be received and a finding made regarding the person’s competency to stand trial. However, in cases where the court has reason to believe that such person may be incompetent to stand trial due to a mental disease or mental defect, such hearing shall not be held until an examination has been made and a report submitted by an examining psychiatrist or psychologist in accordance with sections 4814–4816 of this title.

(d) A person who has been found incompetent to stand trial for an alleged offense may be tried for that offense if, upon subsequent hearing, such person is found by the court having jurisdiction of the person’s trial for the offense to have become competent to stand trial. (Added 1969, No. 20, § 4; amended 2023, No. 28, § 5, eff. July 1, 2023; 2023, No. 137 (Adj. Sess.), § 23, eff. July 1, 2024.)

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