A competency hearing was held on Wednesday for a Missouri woman accused of murdering a four-year-old boy she was babysitting in 2018, according to reports.
Prosecutors charged Quatavia Givens with first-degree murder, child abuse, first-degree endangering the welfare of a child, and abandonment of a corpse in relation to the death of Darnell Gray on October 25, 2018.
Prosecutor Locke Thompson said a competency hearing took place from 9:00 am-6:45 pm on Wednesday.
During the hearing, a defense expert testified that Givens was not competent to stand trial.
Thompson said an evaluator from the Department of Mental Health testified for the prosecution that Givens was competent to stand trial.
Judge William Hickle was expected to make a ruling on Givens’ competency, Thompson said, before a pre-trial conference on August 18.
Givens’ trial was scheduled to begin on September 11, with jury selection occurring on September 7-8.
Investigators said Givens was caring for Gray on Oct. 24, 2018 at a Jefferson City housing complex while his father was a work. She reported him missing the next morning, prompting an intense search before his body was found on Oct. 30.
Police said the woman called authorities at about 7 a.m. Oct. 25, saying the boy was missing when she woke up. After investigating, police later learned that the boy was likely missing hours before the woman called police, and their investigative efforts led them to his body.
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