United States v. Dillon, No. 13-3044 (D.C. Cir. 2013)
Annotate this CaseThis appeal challenged the district court's order authorizing the Government to medicate defendant by force if necessary for the sole purpose of rendering him competent to stand trial. In Sell v. United States, the Supreme Court held that the Government may, on "rare" occasions, forcibly medicate a defendant to restore his competency. The court found no merit in defendant's claim that the district court committed reversible error in failing to consider the prospect that he might face civil confinement; even if defendant was correct that he was not dangerous apart from allegedly threatening the President of the United States with bodily harm, this fact by itself would not render unimportant the Government's interest in prosecuting him for a serious and dangerous crime; and the district court's factual findings have a sound evidentiary basis and were not clearly erroneous. Accordingly, the court affirmed the district court's order authorizing involuntary medication.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.