USA - Indiana. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit set aside the 2002 conviction and death sentence of Paul McManus

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit orders judge to set aside the 2002 conviction and death sentence of Paul McManus for killing his family. The Court of Appeals sent McManus' case back to the lower court with instructions to grant his petition for release unless the state elects to have a new trial. The appeals court ruled that McManus, 43, White, was forced to appear before the jury in a "drug-induced stupor" in violation of federal case law. The panel of 3 appeals court judges concluded that state courts did not properly consider federal standards for determining a defendant's competency when looking at McManus' highly medicated condition at the time of his trial. Shortly after his trial began, McManus began having severe panic attacks requiring hospital emergency room visits. He was treated with a "potent combination" of psychological medications throughout the trial, including one known to impair memory, as well as an opiad painkiller. In a hearing on the issue during McManus' trial in 2002, according to court records, one doctor testified that the drugs prescribed McManus effectively "turned his brain into 'a neuropsychopharmacological soup' that significantly impaired his ability to make rational decisions and understand the proceedings." According to the federal appeals court: "The powerful effect of the medications alone created substantial doubt about McManus's mental fitness for trial, but the judge never ordered a competency evaluation." The federal appeals court judges concluded that: "...regardless of what caused the attacks, the drugs administered to curtail them clearly affected McManus's cognition during trial. We cannot see how new testimony before the district court could possibly provide the necessary information to retrospectively assess his competency under the applicable legal standard." McManus was sentenced to death in 2002, after being convicted of fatally shooting his estranged wife, Melissa, 29, and their 2 children, Lindsey, 8, and Shelby, 23 months on Feb. 26, 2001. During his trial, the shootings were not contested but a jury rejected his mental illness defense. (see also May 9, 2006 and May 10, 2002)