Being Unfit to Stand Trial Lasts Forever in Handful of Cases
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The evidence that Russell E. Weston Jr. walked into the U.S. Capitol one July day and shot two police officers dead may have no bearing on whether he’ll ever be tried, convicted or punished.
Wounded and arrested at the scene in 1997 and diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, Weston was found mentally unfit to stand trial and lives in a federal hospital. Unless his condition improves, by law he will remain forever in legal limbo, in the hands of mental-health professionals.