Judicial Proximity In Medical Cases

Judicial Proximity Shortly after starting Equal Justice Initiative, Bryan Stevenson represented a man named Herbert Richardson. Richardson was “a Vietnam War veteran whose nightmarish experiences in brutal conditions left him traumatized and scared” and he returned home with PTSD and other mental instabilities (Stevenson, 74). Stevenson represented Richardson during his appeals from death row after being erroneously convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend’s niece. In the end, Richardson was executed because of the system’s inability to recognize and account for his mental illness. Later, Stevenson was able to overturn the execution of George Daniel, who also suffers from mental illness, only after exposing the state’s diagnosing doctor as a complete and utter fraud with no medical license. Today, Daniel is being treated in a mental health facility. These are two of many examples of a person suffering from mental illness not being given a fair trial. In the United States a nationwide judge training program is desperately needed for more effective understanding and sentencing of people with mental illness.
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In some areas, there are even specific law enforcement teams that are dispatched when mental illness is suspected. Meanwhile, the courts and judges are usually more shrouded from public scrutiny and are now falling behind in training designed to promote the understanding of those affected with mental illness. Stevenson faced this obstacle in his desperate attempts to find a judge willing to consider the obvious mental instability of Richardson. While police continue to become more educated, the next step is to teach the judges to recognize mental illness and how to successfully guide the proceedings to most effectively try the