PHILADELPHIA — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday said the state may force two death row inmates to take anti-psychotic medication to render them mentally competent to proceed with their cases.

The high court, by a 4-2 decision, overturned rulings by the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas in two similar cases.

Thavirak Sam was convicted of killing his mother-in-law, brother-in-law and 2-year-old niece in 1989. Herbert Watson was convicted of the 1982 shooting death of his estranged girlfriend. Both were sentenced to death but later found incompetent to participate in appeals filed on their behalf.

"The jury's lawful verdict here was death," the majority opinion in Sam's case written by Chief Justice Ronald Castille said. "... That judgment and sentence have not been executed, nor can they be executed so long as (a post-conviction appeal), which appellee never authorized, sits in stasis in perpetuity ... as a roadblock to the execution of a lawful judgment."

In both cases, the court instructed lower courts "to order that appellee be administered, involuntarily if necessary, anti-psychotic medication to render him competent." If the treatment succeeds, courts must find out whether the inmate wants to proceed with appeals, and if so, whether he can help his attorney in doing so, the high court said.

Baer said "the governmental interest in carrying out the sentences of death fails to outweigh the violation of Sam's and Watson's liberty interests in not having psychiatric medication forced upon them."