A New York woman accused of murder in the death of her 4-year-old daughter in Bloomingdale in November was ordered Monday to undergo a mental health exam despite claims by her attorneys that such an exam could be unconstitutional.
DuPage County prosecutors requested the exam shortly after the arrest of Marci Webber, 43, of East Nassau, N.Y., to help determine her mental state at the time her daughter was slain.
“We want the exam in a timely fashion,” Assistant State’s Attorney Alex McGimpsey said Monday in court. “We want to know if the defendant was able to appreciate right and wrong.”
Webber has been accused of slashing the throat of her daughter, Magdalene “Maggie,” Nov. 3 in a relative’s home where they were staying. Marci Webber has pleaded innocent.
Assistant Public Defender Anthony Coco argued that the mental health exam request violated the defendant’s rights because the defense hasn’t had a chance to completely review the evidence against her and give her adequate legal counsel.
But DuPage Judge George Bakalis said the Illinois statute that allows the state to request a mental health exam was “reasonable because there is a possibility of an insanity defense. It is better to do it sooner to the event. That is why the statute allows it.”
The mental health exam is expected to take place within the next week in the county jail, where Webber is being held.
When Coco brought up the possibility that Webber may refuse to cooperate with the exam, Bakalis warned that such a refusal could result in the defense not being allowed to use or being restricted in its use of expert witnesses to support its own future claims.
The defense hasn’t declared if it will claim Webber was legally insane. Coco told the judge the defense is pursuing possible defenses other than insanity, but he declined to elaborate.
