Remember those criminal cases that you read in Con Law? Well, it’s very likely that future editions of the Con Law textbook will include Kansas v. Cheever.

Kansas v. Cheever: Background

Scott Cheever, a methamphetamine user, shot and killed Sheriff Matthew Samuels of Greenwood County, Kansas. Cheever presented a voluntary intoxication defense and argued that because of his drug use, he did not have the appropriate mental state to commit premeditated murder. The court ordered a mental examination by a government-appointed psychiatrist.

On appeal to the highest court in Kansas, the Supreme Court of Kansas held that

Both states’ attorneys general and federal governments would like to see the Kansas Supreme Court’s decision overturned. On the other hand, the ACLU maintains that to do so, would result in a defendant “forfeit[ing] the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination in order to preserve their Eighth Amendment right to present mitigating evidence.”

allowing the State’s psychiatric expert . . . to testify based on his court-ordered mental examination of Cheever, when Cheever had not waived his privilege under the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution in that examination by presenting a mental disease or defect defense at trial, violated Cheever’s privilege against compulsory self-incrimination secured by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.

This case brings to light conflicting policy considerations, and interesting theoretical questions about how the Fifth and Eight Amendments intersect. Because of the current Court’s leanings, we’d be surprised if the Court found the ACLU’s arguments persuasive.

Related Resources:

  • Self-Incrimination During a Sting Operation and Beyond (FindLaw’s U.S. Fourth Circuit Blog)
  • Kansas v. Cheever Docket (Supreme Court of the United States Docket)
  • Kansas v. Cheever Docket (SCOTUSblog)

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