03-01-2017, 03:47 PM
Wow, the new media reports include some explosive details that I've not seen before.
First off, stepdad Wendell Noyes is not going to be prosecuted. The judge just granted the prosecution's request to instead involuntarily commit him to a mental health facility. I hope they're shooting for lifetime incarceration.
Here's the latest release:
CONCORD, N.H.-- A judge on Monday dismissed charges against a man accused of drowning his 11-year-old stepdaughter after finding him incompetent to stand trial.
Prosecutors said the man confessed to killing the stepdaughter five years ago because he believed he had impregnated her. But defense attorneys suggested another man living in their home was the killer.
Wendell Noyes, 42, was charged with murder in the July 2011 death of Celina Cass, whose body was found six days after she was reported missing, wrapped in a comforter and weighed down by a sandbag in the Connecticut River. Noyes was arrested in June at the state psychiatric hospital, where he had been hospitalized after being found incompetent to stand trial on unrelated misdemeanors.
Judge Paul Desjardins on Monday granted the prosecution’s request to dismiss the charges, find that Noyes is dangerous to himself or others and require him to be evaluated for involuntary commitment. In a separate motion, his attorneys argued that he was not dangerous and said the state lacked evidence linking him to the girl’s death.
Defense lawyers instead pointed to Kevin Mullaney, whose father was a former boyfriend of Celina’s mother. Mullaney, who was 22 at the time, is serving two to six years in prison for receiving stolen property and other charges.
(continued)
First off, stepdad Wendell Noyes is not going to be prosecuted. The judge just granted the prosecution's request to instead involuntarily commit him to a mental health facility. I hope they're shooting for lifetime incarceration.
Here's the latest release:
CONCORD, N.H.-- A judge on Monday dismissed charges against a man accused of drowning his 11-year-old stepdaughter after finding him incompetent to stand trial.
Prosecutors said the man confessed to killing the stepdaughter five years ago because he believed he had impregnated her. But defense attorneys suggested another man living in their home was the killer.
Wendell Noyes, 42, was charged with murder in the July 2011 death of Celina Cass, whose body was found six days after she was reported missing, wrapped in a comforter and weighed down by a sandbag in the Connecticut River. Noyes was arrested in June at the state psychiatric hospital, where he had been hospitalized after being found incompetent to stand trial on unrelated misdemeanors.
Judge Paul Desjardins on Monday granted the prosecution’s request to dismiss the charges, find that Noyes is dangerous to himself or others and require him to be evaluated for involuntary commitment. In a separate motion, his attorneys argued that he was not dangerous and said the state lacked evidence linking him to the girl’s death.
Defense lawyers instead pointed to Kevin Mullaney, whose father was a former boyfriend of Celina’s mother. Mullaney, who was 22 at the time, is serving two to six years in prison for receiving stolen property and other charges.
(continued)