SAN FRANCISCO The California Supreme Court took the unusual step Monday of provisionally invalidating a death sentence, subject to a trial judge’s reconsideration of whether the defendant had been competent to stand trial 18 years ago.
Letting Charles Lightsey represent himself at his own competency hearing was “a miscarriage of justice,” the court concluded. But, in a first for the court, it carved out the competency proceedings from the rest of the trial, sending that alone to the lower court for a new hearing. If a trial judge determines Lightsey was competent at his 1994 trial in Bakersfield, his conviction and death sentence will stand.
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