364
Opinion of the Court
"Once a State provides a defendant access to procedures for making a competency evaluation," we stated, there is "no basis for holding that due process further requires the State to assume the burden of vindicating the defendant's constitutional right by persuading the trier of fact that the defendant is competent to stand trial." 505 U. S., at 449. Unlike the presumption at issue in Medina, however, Oklahoma's clear and convincing evidence standard affects a class of cases in which the defendant has already demonstrated that he is more likely than not incompetent.
For the defendant, the consequences of an erroneous determination of competence are dire. Because he lacks the ability to communicate effectively with counsel, he may be unable to exercise other "rights deemed essential to a fair trial." Riggins v. Nevada, 504 U. S., at 139 (Kennedy, J., concurring in judgment). After making the "profound" choice whether to plead guilty, Godinez v. Moran, 509 U. S. 389, 398 (1993), the defendant who proceeds to trial
"will ordinarily have to decide whether to waive his 'privilege against compulsory self-incrimination,' Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U. S. 238, 243 (1969), by taking the witness stand; if the option is available, he may have to decide whether to waive his 'right to trial by jury,' ibid.; and, in consultation with counsel, he may have to decide whether to waive his 'right to confront [his] accusers,' ibid., by declining to cross-examine witnesses for the prosecution." Ibid.
With the assistance of counsel, the defendant also is called upon to make myriad smaller decisions concerning the course of his defense. The importance of these rights and decisions demonstrates that an erroneous determination of competence threatens a "fundamental component of our criminal justice system" 20—the basic fairness of the trial itself.
20 United States v. Cronic, 466 U. S. 648, 653 (1984).
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