It's been quite a while since we've heard from Amanda Bynes, as the former child star has been receiving treatment for an unconfirmed mental illness at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, but now TMZ has a new report on the star's trial for her DUI arrest last April.
According to Bynes's lawyer, Rich Hutton, the 27-year-old is "mentally unfit to stand trial" for her hearing, as she allegedly does not have the "mental capacity to understand the nature of the legal proceedings" at this point in time. The judge transferred the case to the mental health court, in which another judge will be able to determine if she is mentally competent to move forward with the litigation.
Bynes was arrested in April 2012 for driving while under the influence of alcohol, pulled over at around 3 a.m. in West Hollywood after trying to pass a police car in her BMW, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Allegedly, the star at first refused the breathalyzer test at the scene and was taken into custody. In June, Bynes took to Twitter to ask Preisdent Barack Obama for help in the matter, shocking and puzzling the media and fans alike.
"I don't drink," she tweeted @BarackObama at the time. "Please fire the cop who arrested me. I also don't hit and run. The end."
This arguably began her long timeline of legal troubles and run-ins with the law, in addition to her strange and often unsettling Twitter rants, including messages about loving plastic surgery which she appears to have none of, other stars (including, later, the President and First Lady) being "ugly" and claims of loving rapper Drake unconditionally, in between tweets calling him hideous.
Also in June 2012, Bynes plead not guilty to driving under the influence but did not show up to court herself. That September, she was charged with a hit-and-run from a crash back in August, and her car was later impounded, earning her a citation for driving on a suspended license.
This year, Bynes was arrested for criminal possession of marijuana in her New York City apartment, as well as tampering with evidence and reckless endangerment. After relocating to her hometown of Thousand Oaks, Calif. in July, she was placed on a 5150 psychiatric hold after setting fire to a stranger's driveway while wandering the neighborhood, her parents gravely concerned for her safety and well-being.
Bynes's mother, Lynn, fought for and won temporary conservatorship over her daughter and her estate after pleading with a judge to let the state care for her daughter.
"Amanda has profound issues with her body image and is obsessed with the idea that she [and others] are 'ugly,'" her parents told a California judge in August. "She talks incessantly about cosmetic surgeries that she wants to have completed. We are concerned that the surgeries she wants to have are dangerous and detrimental to her health."
Bynes is reportedly doing better now on a complex cocktail at UCLA, though the hospital wants to extend her stay for up to a year.
"She has her good days and bad days, and the goal is obviously to get her therapeutic and stable before being released," a source told Radar Online last month. "Given time and the correct treatment and medicine, Amanda could and should absolutely be able to live with it and be a productive member of society."
