DETROIT (AP) – A mother charged in the slayings of two of her children whose bodies were found in the deep freezer at their Detroit home will undergo psychiatric exams, a judge said at a probably cause hearing Thursday.
Mitchelle Blair, 35, was also arraigned on two counts each of felony murder, premeditated murder and torture.
Court officers conducting a March 24 eviction at Blair’s eastside apartment discovered the frozen corpses of 13-year-old Stoni Ann Blair and 9-year-old Stephen Gage Berry beneath plastic in the freezer.
State officials will conduct forensic tests to establish whether Blair is competent to stand trial. Her attorney also requested an independent psychiatric evaluation to discover if she is competent to stand and if she was competent to waive her Miranda rights before confessing to investigators.
Judge Kenneth King granted the independent evaluation – which Wayne County would fund – but complained that it seemed “wasteful” because “there is a good chance a forensic examination may find her incompetent.”