Several Supreme Court justices suggested Wednesday that defendants with a history of mental illness can be judged competent to stand trial or plead guilty, yet forfeit their constitutional right to represent themselves.

The court heard arguments in a case from Indiana in which a judge prevented a defendant from acting as his own lawyer at trial out of concern that the proceedings would become a farce.

Justice Stephen Breyer said that allowing judges' discretion in those cases could increase public confidence in the criminal justice system and reduce the number of "very disturbed people ending up in prison because they are disturbed, not because they're guilty."

Ahmad Edwards was convicted of attempted murder and other charges in 2005 for a shooting six years earlier at an Indianapolis department store.

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