Posted on 09/30/2005 12:40:54 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (AP) - A deaf, mute, illiterate Salvadoran charged with capital murder in the slaying of a teenage girl was incompetent to stand trial because he has practically no communication skills, a judge ruled.
Oswaldo Martinez, a 33-year-old illegal immigrant, was ordered Thursday to receive language training at a state mental hospital to make him competent to stand trial in the rape and murder of 16-year-old Brittany Binger.
Binger was grabbed from behind, choked and sexually assaulted in January, police said. Martinez was indicted in May after DNA evidence linked him to the crime, officials said.
Martinez cannot communicate with his attorneys and doesn't fully understand why he's in court, said psychologist Carolyn Corbett, who evaluated Martinez for the defense. Martinez looked down at the defense table for most of the hearing.
"He doesn't understand what I'm saying," Corbett said. "He's not even looking at me."
When Martinez was evaluated by a team from Gallaudet University, he spoke only four words and used gestures that sometimes were difficult to understand, Corbett said. Gallaudet is a school for the hearing-impaired.
Martinez could not read, Corbett said, and while he could print his first name slowly, he could not recognize his last name.
Prosecutor Mike McGinty said Martinez has since received a hearing aid and can now say certain words in Spanish and count to 30.
"That is still a very low level of language skill," Corbett replied.
James City County Circuit Court Judge Samuel Powell ordered a hearing to review Martinez's status April 5.
Under state law, capital murder defendants who are incompetent to stand trial remain institutionalized while undergoing treatment for their condition. If competency can't be restored quickly, hearings are held every six months to assess the treatment and the defendant's competency level.
What can one say?
Smart enough to get his kicks in though, huh?
Smart enough to want to leave Mexico, smart enough to illegally enter the US and smart enough to attack a girl that he knew he could overpower and rape...
What can one say?
_
I hear you, but he doesn't. If he can make here from El Salvador. He can stand trial.
Prosecutor Mike McGinty said Martinez has since received a hearing aid and can now say certain words in Spanish and count to 30."We're going to put you to death, now, Oswaldo. ¿Comprende?"
The GOP will go down huge in 06 and 08 if they don't get in front of this issue. I bet we lose more people each year to violent illegals (criminal invading barbarians) than to islamic terrorists.
Its ridiculous. One should ask our leaders: Ok. A murder here or there ok and tolerable, but what if your daughter or wife is raped by one of these maggot parasites?
Just more evidence we need a guest invader plan and shamnesty.
Can't be too dumb--He's able to get into the country illegally, survive in whatever manner, then rape and murder a citizen, then have the court system feel sorry for him and declare him incompetent to avoid the death penalty. Not too dumb at all.
Show him a pitcure of the victim. He'll understand
Ah! Someone must have bought him in on an H1B visa. ;)
"Martinez cannot communicate with his attorneys and doesn't fully understand why he's in court,"
Well I bet when you strap him to the chair it wil jog his memory...he'll probably understand what is happening then too.
Another of Ted Kennedy's boys.
Good decision. If he cannot communicate, then he isn't competent to aid in his defense.
Is he incompetent enough to be helicopter dropped at 1000ft over El Salvadore?
so what should be done with him?
insane asylum, mental facility, deportation?
B-B-But we need Mr. Martinez here and others like him to make up for the shortfall of incompetent American workers! I mean, what's the big deal? 1 American teen-age life, when so many politicians need their estate lawns mowed and their children looked after, and acres of carpeting that need constant cleaning and vacuming..........
sarcasm: /on
I think that the judge has the right idea; imprisonment until his skills improve to the point where he can aid in his own defense.
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