Nation IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON, D.C. : Incompetence Rule Called Too Stringent

States cannot put criminal defendants on trial if it’s more likely than not they are mentally unfit, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled. The justices threw out an Oklahoma death row inmate’s murder conviction, saying that the state made it too hard for him to prove he should not have stood trial because of his mental incompetence. Byron Keith Cooper’s case now will return to a state court for a new competency hearing. Oklahoma law required criminal defendants to prove by “clear and convincing evidence” that they are incompetent.