The California Supreme Court has appointed a legal guardian for a severely mentally ill death row inmate who claims there is a computer in his head and a telephone in his shoulder.

The appointment is without precedent in California and could impact whether the inmate is ever executed.

"The appointment raises questions about whether Dunkle, diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, was really ever sane enough to stand trial for his crimes and whether he will ever be stable enough to be executed.

"We think we have the craziest client on the row," said Michael B. Dashjian, one of Dunkle's lawyers."

"Professor Elisabeth Semel, who directs the Death Penalty Clinic at UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law, said the court's appointment of a guardian was "a very partial and inadequate way of addressing a much larger problem the lawyers have raised."

"Although the lawyers will now be able to obtain Dunkle's records without his consent, his mental condition may make it impossible for him to tell his lawyers about the events that shaped his life and may have led to his crimes, she said."

"If the client was seriously abused physically or sexually, who is going to tell you about it?" she asked. "If your client is so impaired that he can't even sign for a release of his records, how will you obtain vital information from him?"