PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WVEC) — A judge has ruled that a teenager found guilty of trying to kill a Portsmouth Police officer needs to be tested for mental competency for his sentencing.
Back in April, a jury convicted Will Patterson Jr. of the attempted capital murder of Officer Angelina Baaklini.
Patterson is also facing six felony charges in connection with two unrelated robberies last October. However, last month a doctor found him mentally incompetent to stand trial.
On Tuesday his defense requested that the doctor's finding be applied to the attempted capital murder conviction, arguing that if he is incompetent to stand trial now, he was probably incompetent during his previous trial as well.
13News Now Legal Analyst Ed Booth weighed in on the defense's motion, especially since the robberies and the shooting occurred within weeks of each other.
"I understand why they would bring that up," said Booth. "I mean the fact that it's very close together certainly lends itself to the argument the defense is making."
The Commonwealth's Attorney disputed this, arguing they have evidence that Patterson is making it up in order to get out of the charges. The prosecution also added that the defense never raised the issue of competency prior to or during the trial, therefore making their motion "moot."
The judge ruled Patterson must be found competent for sentencing and sentencing only, indicating that the attempted capital murder conviction still stands and the defense will not be able to try to overturn it moving forward.
"The judge is not going to open the door back up to whether or not he understood what he was doing at the time of the offense because that was a trial issue," said Booth.
In a statement to 13News Now, Patterson's mother Wilmesha Speller said:
"If he’s not competent to stand trial for the robbery charges, then he definitely was incompetent to stand trial for this case. I agree with his lawyers that he should have been tested for competency from the beginning."
Patterson's attorneys will appear in court Sept. 6 to determine how to proceed.