Frustrations are growing over a perceived lack of progress in the case of a Montgomery County, Maryland, woman accused of murdering her children over a decade ago.
A hearing has been delayed by two weeks that will determine whether Catherine Hoggle鈥檚 defense attorneys can enter a plea that she was not criminally responsible at the time her children vanished due to mental health issues.
Montgomery County State鈥檚 Attorney John McCarthy argued that prosecutors had the motion for mere hours before the hearing and requested several days to review the dozens of documents that were filed by Hoggle鈥檚 defense team after midnight on Thursday.
The trial is scheduled for October after Hoggle was re-indicted on the murder charges in 2025. Her initial case was dismissed in 2022 after years of ruling that she was unfit to stand trial in the killings of 3-year-old Sarah and 2-year-old Jacob.
Troy Turner, the children’s father, told reporters after the short hearing that he was frustrated with another delay and said that he has seen dozens of hearings and court proceedings come and go seemingly without any progress.
Both children were last seen in September of 2014 and Turner said justice for his kids has not been served.
The judge scheduled an additional hearing for Aug. 20, when arguments are expected to be made on whether Hoggle was mentally fit at the time to be held criminally liable, Maryland鈥檚 equivalent to an insanity defense.
In court documents filed by her public defenders, they argue Hoggle, 鈥渂ecause of a mental disorder, lacked the substantial capacity to appreciate the criminality of the alleged conduct or conform that conduct to the requirements of law.鈥�
Defense attorneys also told the judge during the hearing that it is taking a long time to gather the relevant documents from the Department of Health, which completed psychiatric evaluations when Hoggle was ruled she couldn鈥檛 stand trial for nearly a decade.
The judge added that the lack of resources and staffing at the public defender’s and state鈥檚 attorney’s offices, as well as at the Public Health Department, is sparking a constitutional crisis.
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