Lafourche, St. Mary new salary schedule OK’d
February 19, 2013
Floodgate arrives in Terrebonne Parish
February 19, 2013
As of press time on Monday, District Judge John LeBlanc had not yet filed his decision regarding Jeremiah Wright’s mental capacity to stand trial.
Doctors and experts offered opposing viewpoints over the course of a six-day hearing to determine Wright’s capacity to understand standard criminal proceedings and assist attorneys in his defense.
The hearing concluded Feb. 4, and LeBlanc initially said he’d issue his ruling on Feb. 7. He later alerted officials in the clerk of court’s office that he was delaying his filing to Feb. 13.
Wright is accused of decapitating and dismembering his 7-year-old son Jori Lirette, who had cerebral palsy and used a wheelchair for all mobility, and has allegedly confessed to the homicide.
Two months later, LeBlanc deemed Wright unfit to stand trial and remitted him to the Eastern Louisiana Mental Health System’s forensics division in Jackson, La., where doctors were tasked with restoring his competency.
Those doctors cleared Wright for trial in July 2012, nine months into the accused child-killer’s stay.
Expert witnesses in the fields of psychology and psychiatry testified on Wright’s competency in a Thibodaux courtroom earlier this month.
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, which they say prevents him from fully appreciating the charges against him.
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.
The Tri-Parish Times will update the story online at www.tri-parishtimes.com when a decision is rendered.
