A Connecticut man charged with letting his infant daughter drown in a motel bathtub over the summer has been ruled not competent to stand trial.
Dale Kirkland, 31, is facing counts including murder, murder with special circumstances and risk of injury to a minor in connection with the death of his 3-month-old daughter, Leilani. She was found fully submerged in bathwater by a maid cleaning a vacant room at the Mayflower Motel in Milford on the morning of Aug. 21.
The baby girl was quickly rushed to Yale New Haven Hospital, but died a short time later.
According to a warrant for his arrest, Kirkland checked into the motel with his daughter and was likely the last person to see her alive. He was quickly identified as a person of interest in the case and arrested shortly thereafter.
On Tuesday, Judge Kevin Russo concluded Kirkland is currently incompetent to stand trial, the Connecticut Post reported. His decision followed testimony from Mark Simoniello, a forensic evaluator who works for the state.
Simoniello performed a two-hour remote evaluation of Kirkland alongside a psychiatrist and psychologist. They unanimously concluded he’s not capable of understanding the legal proceedings nor the charges against him.
Simoniello also told the judge that Kirkland suffers from catatonia. According to the Cleveland Clinic, the disorder “disrupts a person’s awareness of the world around them,” and can cause them to “behave in ways that are unusual, unexpected or unsafe to themselves or others.” It’s not uncommon for the condition to come with psychotic or depressive disorders, Simoniello noted.
As a result, Kirkland was ordered to spend 60 days at Whiting Forensic Hospital, a high-security psychiatric facility in Middletown. Russo noted that he hoped Kirkland’s competency could be “restored” there, and that the court would reevaluate at a later date.
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