Catherine Hoggle, who is accused of killing her children, is trying to use an insanity defense and facing a challenge by prosecutors.
Hoggle is charged with murder in the deaths of 3-year-old Sarah and 2-year-old Jacob in 2014. Their bodies have never been found.
The case has dragged on for almost 12 years and there could be another delay. Her attorneys say she plans to plead not criminally responsible, which in Maryland is similar to an insanity defense.
State’s Attorney John McCarthy said her attorneys filed the plea too late, calling it a seven-month delay. He said the defense did not provide good cause for the late plea, as the law requires.
McCarthy asked a judge to deny the plea.
The issue played out in court Friday and no decision was reached.
In December, a judge ruled Hoggle was competent to stand trial for murder.
The state’s attorney said he hasn’t received any information from the defense relating to Hoggle’s criminal responsibility in the case and, according to court documents, McCarthy said this will “absolutely” require the date of the trial to be pushed back.
It is the latest potential delay in a case that many of us have followed for more than a decade.
Friday’s hearing was fiery at times. Hoggle’s attorneys claimed they haven’t received critical information. The state said the materials haven’t been provided, setting the stage for an interesting trial now set for Oct. 19.
The next hearing is scheduled for next week.
What a not criminally responsible defense means
Hoggle’s attorneys filed court documents earlier this month asserting she is “not criminally responsible” for the alleged crimes “because of a mental disorder.” They said she lacked the ability to “appreciate the criminality of the alleged conduct” or “conform to the law.”
“The burden is on the defendant, ultimately, to prove that they’re not criminally responsible,” explained Robert Bonsib, a criminal defense attorney not connected to the Hoggle case.
“What, essentially, you’re trying to determine is, does the person, when they engaged in the act, know that their act — know what they’re doing?” Bonsib said.
He said the intent to pursue this type of defense could result in additional mental health evaluations for Hoggle.
Bonsib said Hoggle could face trial on the murder charges and then — if found guilty — could ask the judge or jury to determine she was not responsible for the crime at the time of the alleged offenses, due to her mental health.
“The plea of not criminally responsible does not carry with it any admission or acknowledgement that you committed the acts that you are charged with committing,” Bonsib said.
Hoggle’s relatives have said she has schizophrenia and has been on many medications to deal with her condition.
She was charged with murder after Sarah and Jacob disappeared. While she was the last person known to have seen the children, she has never said where she took them or what may have happened to them.
Eleven years after Sarah, 3, and Jacob, 2, vanished, mom Catherine Hoggle faces new murder charges. Darcy Spencer joins Ted Oberg to dissect the latest.
Previous murder charges against Hoggle were dropped under Maryland law because she was repeatedly found not competent to stand trial.
Then, last summer, she was released from a psychiatric facility and put into a group home setting. That’s when she was indicted again on murder charges.
Since then, she has been found competent to stand trial.
“So, competency goes to your current mental state with respect to your ability to assist in your own defense,” Bonsib explained. “Criminal responsibility goes to your mental state at the time the act is alleged to have been committed.”
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