Cite as: 517 U. S. 348 (1996)
Opinion of the Court
protects the individual's fundamental interest in liberty. The prohibition against requiring the criminal defendant to demonstrate incompetence by clear and convincing evidence safeguards the fundamental right not to stand trial while incompetent. Because Oklahoma's procedural rule allows the State to put to trial a defendant who is more likely than not incompetent, the rule is incompatible with the dictates of due process.25
VI
For the foregoing reasons, the judgment is reversed, and the case is remanded to the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.
It is so ordered.
369
25 We note that Addington did not purport to resolve any question concerning the rights of the defendant in a criminal proceeding. To the contrary, in his opinion for the Court, Chief Justice Burger contrasted the appropriate standard in civil commitment proceedings with the rules applicable in criminal cases in which "the interests of the defendant are of such magnitude that historically and without any explicit constitutional requirement they have been protected by standards of proof designed to exclude as nearly as possible the likelihood of an erroneous judgment." 441 U. S., at 423.
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