Heather Curtis
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON (WMAL) – The mother of two children who went missing nearly three years ago is again found incompetent to stand trial Thursday, and her attorney asked that the three charges against her be dropped.
Catherine Hoggle has been undergoing treatment for schizophrenia at the Clifton T. Perkins psychiatric hospital since she was detained in Sept. of 2014 after her children 3-year-old Sarah and 2-year-old Jacob disappeared.
Hoggle’s been charged with three misdemeanors: detaining a child, neglect and obstruction.
“The statue makes things fairly clear,” said Hoggle’s attorney David Felsen.
The statue says when someone’s charged with non-violent misdemeanors, they can be dropped in three years, which is coming up in the beginning of September.
Felsen said the prosecution could respond to his request in a number of ways, including filing new charges.
Once the court makes a decision on what to do with each of the three charges, it needs to decide Catherine’s fate.
“There are so many variables that come into play, that it’s really gonna be impossible to make any predictions,” Felsen said. It is a possibility that Catherine could be asked to stay at the hospital even if the charges are dropped.
Catherine is due back in court Sept. 15.
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