A DUBLIN man who claims he suffers from hallucinations and voices in his head has secured the permission of the High Court to bring a challenge to a Circuit Court decision that he is mentally fit to stand trial.
Yesterday, lawyers acting for Marcus Lane argued before the High Court that his constitutional rights have been breached because he cannot appeal Judge Frank O’Donnell’s ruling last July that he, Mr Lane, is mentally fit to stand trial.
In his judicial review proceedings, Mr Lane (30), an unemployed disc jockey with an address at Beverly Lawns, Knocklyon, Co Dublin, who faces charges under the Misuse of Drugs Act and a charge of conspiracy to rob, is seeking a number of declarations and orders from the court aimed at overturning the judge’s finding and preventing his trial.
These include a declaration that Section 7 of the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act is repugnant to sections of the Constitution, and incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.
Leave to bring the challenge against Judge O’Donnell and the Director of Public Prosecutions was granted by Mr Justice Roderick Murphy.
The judge also put a stay on the criminal proceedings against Mr Lane until his High Court action has been resolved.
The judge, who granted leave on an ex-parte basis (one side only represented in court), made the matter returnable before the High Court later next month.
Yesterday, counsel for Mr Lane, Dr Michael Forde SC, said the challenge was being brought because the relevant section does not allow his client or anybody else in that situation to appeal a finding that they are mentally fit to stand trial.
However, the DPP is allowed to appeal a finding that a person is mentally unfit to stand trial.
Counsel said it was a breach of fair procedures, unconstitutional, and in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Mr Lane is seeking an order quashing Judge O’Donnell’s decision of July 28th last that he should stand trial, and that a transcript of that hearing should be provided.
Counsel said that because the matter cannot be appealed, no transcript was provided to Mr Lane’s lawyers.
In an affidavit to the court, Mr Lane’s solicitor John O’Donohoe said Judge O’Donnell – in reaching his decision that Mr Lane was fit to stand trial – accepted the evidence given by the State’s medical expert.
Mr O’Donohoe added that Mr Lane’s case raised an issue of public interest.
He said what precisely constitutes “unfit to stand trial” should be clarified by the courts, in light of what is currently known about mental illness.