Grandma Charged in Infant Granddaughter's Slaying Fit to Stand Trial

Photo: Alfreda Giedrojc, 63, has been charged in the October 2013 slaying of her infant granddaughter. | Cook County Sheriff

BRIDGEVIEW -- An Oak Lawn grandmother accused of slaying her infant granddaughter two years ago has been determined “restored to fitness” after being treated at a state-run mental health facility, according to her public defender.

Alfreda Giedrojc appeared in Judge Colleen Hyland’s Bridgeview courtroom for a status hearing on Wednesday.

Giedrojc, 63, is charged in the first-degree murder of her 6-month old granddaughter, Vivian Summers. The grandmother is accused of battering the Bolingbrook infant with a sledgehammer and then slashing the baby’s throat while left in Giedrojc’s care at her Oak Lawn home on Oct. 6, 2013.

Assistant public defender Michael Wilson requested permission for Dr. Robert Hanlon, a private neuropsychologist based in Chicago, to begin working with Giedrojc in Cook County Jail where she has been held without bail since her arrest in October 2013.

“Dr. Hanlon has permission to work with Ms. Giedrojc in the jail,” Wilson told the Judge Hyland. “I’d like to try to get him there next week.”

Wilson also requested the doctor be provided with a Polish interpreter. Giedrojc, who does not speak English, has relied on court interpreters during her hearings.

The defense attorney also said he was missing some pages from the Oak Lawn police reports taken the day of the slaying, and had asked prosecutors to acquire the missing pages.

At a fitness hearing at the Leighton Criminal Courts Building in July 2014, Judge Clayton Crane declared Giedrojc “unfit to stand trial” and ordered the grandmother to be re-evaluated in a year.

Wilson said after Wednesday’s hearing that Giedrojc had received treatment at a state-run psychiatric facility for a year. She had been declared “restored to fitness,” meaning she was fit to stand trial and could participate in her own defense.

“We disagree with that assessment,” the defense attorney said. “It’s the nature of the case. It would be remiss for us to assume her state of mind.”

Wilson wants to bring in a private doctor, Dr. Robert Hanlon, to work with and evaluate Giedrojc in the jail house.

“He is very respected in the legal community,” Wilson said. “His evaluation will be more scientific.”

Hanlon is a board-certified clinical neuropsychologist with a specialty in forensic clinical services, including neuropsychological evaluations and consultations. He has also provided expert testimony and has testified in over 150 civil and criminal cases, and is an associate professor of clinical psychiatry and clinical neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

Wilson said the doctor had his paperwork completed for jailhouse visits and a Polish interpreter.

Giedrojc is due back in court on Sept. 24 in Bridgeview.