Prisoner's Incompetence, Judge's Discretion - NYTimes.com At the Supreme Court last week, the justices considered the rights of an Ohio death row inmate, Sean Carter, who challenged his conviction in federal court, but who is mentally incompetent and cannot assist in his own legal defense. Mr. Carter had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to rape and murder, but was found competent to stand trial. He sought to overturn the conviction, alleging ineffective assistance of counsel. A Federal District Court refused to act on his habeas petition because his mental illness kept him from communicating with or even identifying his counsel - and from assisting in making claims at the core of his case. It dismissed the proceedings and allowed Mr. Carter to refile his petition after being restored to competence. The issue before the Supreme Court is whether a federal judge has discretion to order an indefinite delay in such circumstances or whether the justices should set a limit on the length of a delay, even if the petitioner cannot assist in his own defense. The court should impose no limit. As the American Psychiatric Association explained in a brief, a study shows that almost all defendants who were found incompetent to stand trial were restored to competency within nine months, with medication and other treatment. In the rare instance when a prisoner is so mentally ill that he is unlikely to recover, he is likely to be too ill to be executed under a 1986 Supreme Court ruling. Justice Stephen Breyer said at oral argument in a related case the same day that federal judges should be allowed to exercise their discretion in how long to put a habeas proceeding on hold: "Why can't we trust them to do their job?" A judge is allowed to order a delay only when a prisoner is found incompetent and could make a difference in his own defense, as when his memory of his lawyer's work at trial is needed to challenge the lawyer's adequacy. But on other issues, like claims of improper jury instructions, the habeas lawyer does not need the client's help. Occasional delays because of a prisoner's incompetence will rarely result in those cases remaining unresolved indefinitely. There is no reason to impose an arbitrary limit on how long a judge can order a delay if proceeding with the habeas action would be unfair to the inmate's case.