Heather Curtis
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON (WMAL) – The Montgomery County woman charged with killing her young children who disappeared without a trace in 2014 was once again found incompetent to stand trial Friday.
Catherine Hoggle – who suffers from schizophrenia – has been found incompetent to stand trial multiple times since being arrested in connection with the disappearance of three-year-old Sarah and two-year-old Jacob in 2014. She was originally charged with three misdemeanors, but the law stipulates someone can only be held on misdemeanor charges for three years. When that deadline came in September of 2017, Hoggle was charged with murdering Sarah and Jacob. At that time, the judge ordered yearly competency reviews at the court’s discretion.
Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office spokesperson Ramon Korionoff said Montgomery County Circuit Court judge Robert Greenberg made the determination Friday based on a report put together by doctors at the Clifton T. Perkins psychiatric hospital where Hoggle’s being held. Hoggle will check back in with the court in 90 days according to Korionoff.
Thursday, Hoggle’s attorney David Felsen said he’s in contact with his client who is at Clifton T. Perkins psychiatric hospital, and she is cooperating with doctors.
“It’s deplorable that this has gone on so long. The suffering that it’s caused is immeasurable,” Sarah and Jacob’s family said in a post Thursday on the Justice for Sarah and Jacob Facebook page.
The children’s father, Troy Turner, said in September, “I know now with the passage of time that Catherine killed my babies.”
Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said in 2017, if Hoggle isn’t found competent in five years, the charges will have to be dismissed.
Copyright 2018 by WMAL. All Rights Reserved. (Photo: Montgomery County Police)
