A Utah mother accused of dumping her baby girl in the trash two days after giving birth is not mentally fit to stand trial, a judge ruled Monday, according to the Desert News.
Alicia Marie Englert, 23, appeared in Third District Court with her head bowed as a judge agreed with an expert's findings that she was not fit to aid in her defense on an attempted murder charge for the August 2014 incident.
Salt Lake county prosecutors say Englert gave birth by herself in the basement of her parent's home in Kearns on Aug. 26. Two days later, she allegedly dumped the newborn in her neighbor's trash can on her way to work, the Desert News reported.
Ever since she was charged, Englert's parents have maintained their daughter has "special needs" and did not understand the severity of her actions.
"Her parents are very relieved that the medical professionals found exactly what they've been asserting all along, and that is that Alicia simply functions at a lower level than you and I would," Jessica Peterson, a lawyer for parents Robert and Tammy Englert, told the Desert News.
"She doesn't understand the gravity of what took place."
But prosecutors say Englert, who hid her pregnancy from her parents, knew what she did was wrong and even confessed to it.
"She admitted she knew that not providing any care for the baby and discarding the baby in a garbage can was wrong, but said she didn't want her parents to 'freak out' or to know that she'd been pregnant and delivered a baby," according to charging documents obtained by the newspaper.
Medical experts said there is a possibility Englert could one day be competent enough to stand trial, according to Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill.
Investigators are reviewing their options to determine how to proceed in the case, Gill told the newspaper.
In the meantime, the judge ordered the defendant to be transferred into the custody of the Department of Human Services, where she will likely receive treatment at a state hospital. A progress report is expected in June.
Englert's daughter was found by a neighbor. She is expected to be placed under adoption.
