In what is apparently an attempt to take decisive control of the Ryan Harris slaying case, a Cook County Juvenile Court judge Friday ordered psychiatric examinations for two boys accused in the 11-year-old girl’s death.
The testing, which is to be completed by Oct. 2, was ordered to determine whether the 7- and 8-year-old suspects are legally competent to stand trial and whether they understood and intelligently waived their rights to an attorney and to refuse to answer police questions on Aug. 9. It was during that questioning, police say, that the boys admitted their involvement in Ryan’s death on July 27.
Judge Andrew Berman rejected a motion by attorneys for the 8-year-old to reopen a hearing to present new evidence in an attempt to clear the boy and his 7-year-old co-defendant before any testing.
“I’ve considered this matter,” Berman said. “There is a bona fide doubt (as to the boys’ competency to stand trial) just on the . . . mere age of these minors.”
R. Eugene Pincham, a lawyer for the 8-year-old, said that, by having the hearing reopened, he hoped to show that the defendants were not responsible for the girl’s death and that the case should be thrown out so police could search for the true offender.
After the hearing, Assistant State’s Atty. Kip Owen, one of four prosecutors in the case, said Berman’s decision to order the testing was “the absolute right thing.” He dismissed Pincham’s claim that the real slayer of Ryan was on the loose.
“At this point, I believe we have the two individuals who participated in this crime,” he said.
In denying Pincham’s request, Berman said the issues Pincham hoped to raise would be more properly addressed at a trial.
Catherine Ferguson and Elizabeth Tarzia, lawyers for the 7-year-old, expressed concern that a psychiatrist’s finding that the boys were not competent to stand trial would result in a dismissal of the case, leaving the boys with the “stigma” of having been accused of murder without a trial to determine whether the charge could be proven.
