The update on the mother:
MEMPHIS, TN - The mother of two boys killed in a house fire last October will get more mental health treatment. Melodia Dunn was scheduled to be in court Friday for a competency hearing, but doctors say she isn't well enough to make it to court. They say she is too fragile to withstand the hearing.
Family members and friends of Melodia Dunn filled the courtroom. The 22-year-old mother of three is accused of reckless homicide. Her three and two year old sons were left home alone. They died in an October house fire in South Memphis. Doctors evaluating Dunn took the stand to describe her state of mind.
“Very depressed, very hopeless, having thoughts of wishing she could close her eyes and not wake up,” said Dr. Christie Brooks.
Doctors say Dunn has been making progress understanding what happened.
“When she was denying, she was denying there was a house fire,” said Dr. Amanda Buchwald. “She was denying they died in the house fire. She denied that the fire occurred some place else, it wasn't her home. Now, she is acknowledging that her house was the house that caught fire and that her children are dead.”
Defense attorneys fought to keep her in a facility here, but prosecutors argued she should be sent to an out-of-town facility, which is standard procedure. The judge ruled to continue her treatment in Memphis.
Family members were glad to know she's staying in the area, doctors say they've been a part of the therapy process.
As for how Dunn will plead when or if the case finally makes it to trial, her lawyer said it’s too early.
“At this stage, she's not even allowed to do that. That's not even a possibility until she's competent to stand trial, and that's what this is about,” said Dunn’s Attorney Mike Working. “She has to get enough treatment to where she can even make the important constitutional decisions about her case.”
The judge asked doctors to continue treating Melodia Dunn and give a status report on her progress in a month. :
hno:
