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Abstract: 

While holding White in custody at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina for a mental examination in connection with 2016 sex offense charges, the government filed a certificate in the district court under 18 U.S.C. § 4248(a), certifying that White was a “sexually dangerous person” and petitioned the court to commit White to the custody of the Attorney General. The district court ordered a competency hearing, which determined that “White [was] currently suffering from a mental disease or defect ... which render[ed] White unable to understand the nature and consequences of the §4248 proceeding against him and to assist properly in his defense in the proceeding.” Concluding that §4248 allowed it to dismiss the proceeding “against an incompetent person” the district court granted White’s motion to dismiss the proceeding. The government filed this appeal, and prevails. This article examines the rationale for the Fourth Circuits ruling that the district court’s dismissal was in error in U.S. v. White, 927 F.3d 257 (4th Cir. 2019).

Keywords: U.S. v. White, 927 F.3d 257; Civil Commitment and Competency to Participate in Civil Proceedings

Affiliations:  1: Executive Editor.