Parks v. Denver District Court

This original proceeding seeks to prohibit determination of the petitioners competency to stand trial until after a jury resolves the issue raised by the petitioners plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. Petitioner was charged in the Denver district court with robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery. Thereafter, he entered pleas of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity at the time of the alleged commission of the offense. After the insanity issue was raised, the court, at the instance of the district attorney, ordered that a trial be held to determine whether the defendant was competent to stand trial and vacated the date set for the trial of the insanity issue. We issued a rule to show cause after a petition for a writ of prohibition was filed. We now discharge the rule.