Judge says Florida teen unfit for trial

[Brian503a]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060912/ap_ ... girl_found

Judge says Florida teen unfit for trial

Mon Sep 11, 9:30 PM ET



A teenager accused of raping an 8-year-girl and leaving her for dead in an abandoned landfill has been declared mentally incompetent and unfit to stand trial.

Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Edward Garrison ordered Milagro Cunningham, 18, committed to a treatment facility of the Department of Children and Families. The order, issued Thursday, requires the agency to report on Cunningham's condition within six months.

Cunningham, a native of the Bahamas, was charged as an adult with attempted first-degree murder, sexual battery, kidnapping and other counts. He had been held without bail since his arrest in May 2005, when he was 17.

Police discovered the girl under chunks of concrete at a landfill May 22, 2005, about seven hours after she was reported missing from her godmother's home. She identified Cunningham as her attacker.

Authorities said the teen confessed after initially telling police that five men in a station wagon took her.

Cunningham's public defender argued last year that the teen comprehended and communicated "within the range of a 7- to 9-year-old child," the Palm Beach Post reported on its Web site Monday. Two of three mental health experts appointed to evaluate him concluded that he was incompetent, according to the newspaper.

The after-hours recording at the Palm Beach County Public Defenders office would not accept an incoming message Monday night.

Officials have said Cunningham was in the country illegally but escaped the notice of immigration authorities after three burglary arrests in 2004 because his cases were handled in the juvenile justice system.

[Brian503a]

Here's some earlier articles.

http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... ic&t=37260

http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... pic&t=3938

http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... pic&t=3927

http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... pic&t=3684

[swatchick]

The juvenile justice system needs to be turning the juvenile and family over to immigration. Age should not matter when it comes to immigration.

[crazybird]

I agree.......age should not matter.

Problem is.....mental illness hits everyone. When they insist on allowing illegal immigration and even legal immigration from impoverished countries......I'm afraid this is going to be on the rise.

They are, in alot of cases...comming from countries in which this is considered "normal" behavior even for a "normal" person. I have no real clue on this person........but we are opening ourselves up to much more of this.

I say "impoverished" countries because we don't fully understand all the aspects of starvation on the development of the mind. Not to mention being forced to live like that. All the more reason to know who is comming into this country and how we alone can't be responsible for all the worlds problems.

[swatchick]

Right on Crazybird!