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Judge to hear competency arguments
McClurg must decide 10-year-old's status after boy confessed to setting Sept. 16 fire that killed five people in Greenville.
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> Judge to hear competency arguments in Greenville fire case
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Monday, March 24, 2008
GREENVILLE — A judge will hear arguments Tuesday, March 25, whether a 10-year-old boy is competent to face juvenile charges on five counts of murder and one count of aggravated arson.
Timothy Byers confessed to setting the Sept. 16 fire in one side of the duplex his family shared with another, according to prosecutors. Killed in the blaze were his mother, sister and three young children from the other family.
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Now Darke County Juvenile Judge Michael McClurg must decide the murky subject of the boy's competency.
"The legal standard is the same as adult court," said Jenifer Wilhelm, a visiting clinical professor at the University of Dayton Law School with 15 years experience in the juvenile justice system. "Does the child understand the charges, and can he assist the attorney in defending them?"
Wilhelm cautioned it is not cut-and-dried. "You are dealing with a 10-year-old."
At 10, there are vast differences in the level of development compared to children three or four years older, said Kirk Heilbrun, head of Drexel University's Department of Psychology, who has written extensively on juvenile competency.
"The bottom line is a 10-year-old doesn't think and act like 13- or 14-year-old," he said. "The question is whether that ... developmental immaturity is a basis for incompetency."
State law gives more latitude in juvenile court, Wilhelm said.
"While there are no specific rules, the battery of tests given in such cases covers just such things, which the judge may consider," she said.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2290 or
dpage@DaytonDaily
News.com.
