A man who was originally sentenced to the death penalty for killing one detective and shooting another during a 1981 drug raid has been ordered by a Tampa judge to take psychotropic medicines so he can remain competent for resentencing. Carlos Bello was originally convicted and sentenced to the death penalty, but the sentence was overturned on appeal because the Florida Supreme Court ruled that Bello should not have been shackled during sentencing. Since the sentence was overturned, Bello as been ruled incompetent about a dozen times preventing resentencing.
The Florida judge ruled that Bello is to be forced to take psychotropic drugs to permit sentencing to proceed. However, the ruling is conditioned on details about the type and quantity of medications that will be necessary to keep Bello competent. "I do not want this to be overly broad, where we're giving him everything but the kitchen sink in order to maintain his competence," said Circuit Judge Ronald Ficarrotta.
Bello was originally convicted for the killing of Detective Gerald Rauft and shooting of Detective Robert Uriksen when they carried out a drug raid of Bello's home. Following Bello's conviction, a psychiatrist testified that Bello showed signs of paranoid and catatonic schizophrenia and that Bello was mentally ill when he killed Rauft. Bello has been confined to mental institutions since the finding that he was incompetent. However, a clinical psychologist has since testified that Bello would be competent if given psychotropic drugs.
Florida criminal lawyer John Musca explained that almost all crimes require the state to prove that a defendant has the requisite mental state and the capacity to form that mental state. Moreover, the defendant must be competent to stand trial and assist in his own defense. Many person's accused of crimes have diagnosable mental illnesses, mental retardation or other mental deficiencies that may form the basis of a defense to the charges either because the defendant is incapable of forming the requisite mental state to commit the crime or to assist in his own defense, explained Musca. It is important to obtain a qualified Florida criminal defense attorney if someone with a mental disability is accused of a crime. The Forida criminal defense lawyer can assure that the court is aware of the person's mental disability and that his or her rights are protected and the appropriate defenses are asserted.
For further information about Florida Criminal Defense Lawyer John Musca, visit www.muscalaw.com, where you can review the firm's current case list along with their previous successes and obtain legal information. Musca Law is a full service Florida criminal defense firm servicing clients throughout the state of Florida.
