At this the time the jury has found my attacker competent, but is now determining whether she is legally insane.
The short version as I understand it: you can be declared legally competent and then be determined to be legally insane. However, if you are declared legally incompetent you can not be judged to be insane.
In other words, competency means that the person can understand the nature and consequences of the criminal proceedings against them. More specifically, a defendant must have:
- the sufficient ability to consult with their attorney with a reasonable degree of rational understanding;
- a rational and factual understanding of the proceeding against them;
Competency is determined by the judge, while insanity is determined by a jury and in these cases, the legal definition may overlap with a psychiatric term but they are not interchangeable. Moreover, the definition varies from state to state. with some states not recognizing an insanity defense at all.
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