Mental Illness
Since the early part of my career, when I represented at trial a young man with schizophrenia who, acting on various delusions and hallucinations, had driven his car through the doors of and into the lobby of a local television station, I have been interested in cases and clients with mental health issues. The criminal justice and correctional systems are generally ill-equipped to deal with people who suffer from mental illness, and the unfairness that results from this systemic failure has been a substantial motivator for me.
Many people who find themselves in the criminal justice system are there, sadly, because of mental health or substance abuse issues. These issues may prevent the person from being competent to stand trial, or may be the focus of an insanity defense or a diminished capacity defense. They also may play a very important role in plea bargaining or at sentencing, when they may be raised to argue for a lenient plea offer or to mitigate or lessen the punishment imposed. Because, almost inevitably, people facing the prospect of being put to death by our government have serious and long-standing mental health problems, Mr. Iaria’s long-time work on capital cases has thus given him extensive experience dealing with a broad range of mental health issues that are also found in other categories of cases.