June 13, 2008 12:30 pm
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Circuit Judge David Mouton ordered Friday that 15-year-old Thomas White undergo an examination to determine if he has the mental competency to assist in his own defense.
White’s public defenders had asked for the examination in light of recent evaluations of their client by a doctor and psychologist suggesting the possibility the teen might be schizophrenic. The prosecutor’s office raised no objection to the request at a hearing Friday in Jasper County Circuit Court prior to the judge’s ruling.
But the judge turned down a defense request that White be released from jail on a cash bond and placed on house arrest while awaiting trial on charges stemming from an assault-rifle incident at Joplin’s Memorial Middle School in 2006.
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