The People of the State of Colorado, In Re Plaintiff: v. Austin Rhys McGee, Defendant:

Summary

The court held that once a court-ordered competency evaluation was completed, the district court was required to grant the defense’s timely request for a second-opinion evaluation. The court rejected the district court’s requirements of new indicia of incompetency or a different medical explanation and held that the court could not retroactively invalidate the earlier evaluation order as dilatory. The court exercised original jurisdiction, made the order to show cause absolute, and remanded for the second-opinion evaluation.