A 15-year-old Indiana boy accused of molesting and murdering a a 6-year-old girl from New Carlisle in March 2021 intends to claim he was legally insane at the time of the offense.
The move, indicated by recent court filings, comes after Anthony Hutchens underwent competency evaluations in juvenile court. If the judge agrees to conduct an insanity evaluation, a wider range of outcomes are possible.
Competency has been a central issue in the case since prosecutors charged Anthony with the murder of Grace Ross in March 2021. Court documents in the case allege the boy told police a “shadowy man” controlled him and made him strangle Grace after she had followed him into the woods.
Anthony’s case was originally filed in probate, or juvenile court, and multiple hearings were delayed so psychologists could conduct interviews with and examinations of the boy.
Eventually, the parties agreed he was competent to stand trial, though Anthony’s mother testified at a later hearing that he is on the autism spectrum, has ADHD and a sensory disorder.
The case has since been moved to superior, or adult, court and the recently filed motion asks for the court to appoint two or three psychiatrists or psychologists to determine Anthony’s competency to stand trial. The evaluators would also testify to their findings at trial.
Per Indiana code, trials involving an insanity defense can result in four outcomes: guilty, not guilty, not responsible by reason of insanity or guilty but mentally ill. For a jury to find a defendant not responsible by insanity, the defense must prove the person has a mental illness or disability and that the disease or disability made them unable to understand what they did was wrong.
If a defendant were to be found guilty but mentally ill, they are sentenced as normal with court mandated mental health treatment. If a defendant were to be found not responsible by reason of insanity, the judge holds an additional hearing on placement options.
A hearing on the issue is scheduled for next week and comes as Anthony was recently transferred to a facility in Kokomo, with his attorneys and St. Joseph Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Sanford citing poor conditions at the St. Joseph County Jail.
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