4 months ago
The state's supreme court says Bibb County prosecutors can't use a murder suspect's psychological test against him in a death-penalty trial.
In a unanimous decision released today, the Georgia Supreme Court says a Bibb County judge erred by ordering Jomekia Dechelle Pope to undergo the psychological test.
He is accused of dousing his girlfriend, Latosha Taylor, with gasoline, then setting her house on fire in August 2005 following a birthday party for one of her children. She died nearly two months later at the Augusta Burn Center, and Pope was charged with malice murder, felony murder and arson.
The decision today notes that defendants must submit to a mental health examination by state experts if they intend to present expert mental health testimony at trial, and that the trial court has a duty to hold a hearing if there are doubts about a defendant's competence to stand trial.
But since that was not the case, the court says, the judges believed that prosecutors asked for the test to prevent Pope's attorneys from later raising mental-health issues. They ordered that the psychological tests for Pope be sealed and not used at trial.
The court also ruled that some statements made by Pope to a police officer could be excluded from the trial if Pope objects.
Pope's trial has not been scheduled.
