Zhu was indicted in April on charges of attempted aggravated murder, a first-degree felony, and two counts of felonious assault, a second-degree felony, in connection to the March 4 stabbing of a 3-year-old boy.
She was ordered to undergo a forensic evaluation following her arraignment in April and was found incompetent to stand trial.
Zhu has been held at Summit Behavioral Healthcare in Cincinnati since May for additional treatment to restore her competency.
On Tuesday, Judge Donald E. Oda II ordered her to undergo an assessment for a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity at Summit and set a further pretrial date of Oct. 27.
Fornshell said the NGRI assessment is to determine whether, at the time of the incident, a person suffered from a physical or mental condition that caused that person to be unable to appreciate the wrongfulness of their actions.
Prosecutors allege that Zhu stabbed the 3-year-old boy nine times with a ceramic knife and that three of the stabs penetrated the boy’s coat with two cutting into his back and one to his neck. In addition, prosecutors said the knife tip remains inside his body near his spine.
Fornshell said Wednesday the knife tip has not been removed because it’s too dangerous to do so.
The incident was reported by Zhu’s daughter during an online classroom session with her teacher, who then called 911.
The boy’s mother said she heard screaming and saw her next door neighbor standing on her driveway and stabbing her son.
Somebody’s just stabbed my son,” the boy’s mother said in a frantic 911 call. “I saw her with a knife standing above my child,” she said.
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