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District Judge John LeBlanc will not issue his ruling on accused child-killer Jeremiah Wright’s competency to stand trial until Wednesday, according to the parish clerk of court’s office.
Wright confessed to decapitating and dismembering his 7-year-old special needs son Jori Lirette, who had cerebral palsy, in August 2011. Two months later LeBlanc declared him mentally unfit to stand trial, stalled the criminal proceedings and sent Wright to Eastern Louisiana Mental Health System’s forensic division for competency rehabilitation.
Doctors at ELMHS declared Wright right ready for trial last year and testified in that regard over the course of a six-day competency hearing that concluded Monday. LeBlanc initially said the ruling would be rendered Thursday, Feb. 7.
The reason for the delay will be revealed with the judgment, according to the clerk of court’s office.
Expert witnesses in the fields of psychology and psychiatry testified on Wright’s competency.
The defense pointed to a lack of reliable evidence that Wright can make rational strategic decisions related to his first-degree murder charge and said he has delusions that his son was an inanimate object rather than a real person.
State witnesses – led by the ELMHS doctors who issued the report – claim Wright has exaggerated his symptoms and has a factual and rational understanding of his charges. They based their judgment on hours of observation and testing.
