Authorities Can Force Drugs on Doc Charged With Murder

The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Tuesday
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 6, 2016 2:49 PM CDT
Authorities Can Forcibly Medicate Murder Suspect
Lishan Wang, a mentally ill Chinese doctor charged with murder, can be forcibly medicated in order to stand trial, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.   (AP Photo/Douglas Healey, Pool, File)

Lishan Wang, a Chinese doctor charged with murder in Connecticut, can be forced to take anti-psychotic medication in order to be competent enough to stand trial, the AP reports. The state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday it wouldn't be a violation of the mentally ill Wang's rights to forcibly medicate him. As laid out in a 2003 US Supreme Court ruling, prosecutors had to show it was "substantially likely" the medication would make Wang competent to stand trial. A state psychiatrist testified there was a 50% to 70% chance of that happening. While Wang's public defender, Mark Rademacher, argues that doesn't meet the threshold, the state Supreme Court ruled 7-0 that anything greater than 50% constitutes "substantially likely."

The court also ruled there wasn't a "less-intrusive option" to forcibly medicating Wang and that he was unlikely to have side effects from the medication, CBS Connecticut reports. Rademacher may appeal the decision to the US Supreme Court. "They just set the bar too low before they can violently restrain a patient, knock him out with a sedative, and inject him with medication," he tells the AP. Wang is charged with fatally shooting Dr. Vajinder Toor and shooting at Toor's pregnant wife in 2010 outside their Connecticut home. Wang was fired from his job in 2008 after multiple confrontations with Toor and other doctors. Wang maintains that he's not guilty and doesn't need medication. (More Lishan Wang stories.)

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