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CEDAR RAPIDS A Cedar Rapids man charged in a 2011 fatal robbery of a cabdriver is appealing a federal judge’s order he be given involuntary antipsychotic medication to maintain his competency so he can stand trial.
Johnathan Dewayne Mitchell, 42, asked U.S. District Chief Judge Leonard Strand to stay temporarily hold the medication order pending an appeal he filed this week with the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Strand, in his order, said it’s common for courts to delay involuntary medication orders during appeals because any “harm caused by the medication cannot be undone.” Ordering involuntary medication, he stated, can “implicate and entwine defendants’ health and constitutional” rights.