Judge To Decide Whether Hoggle Mom Gets More Tests: Report

ROCKVILLE, MD — A Montgomery County Circuit Court judge on Friday scheduled a status hearing for next week that will determine whether Catherine Hoggle — the mother indicted for the murder of her two children — is fit to stand trial. The court hearing, according to WTOP, is set for Tuesday, Aug. 20.

Judge Robert Greenberg's decision comes a week after the psychiatrist hand-picked by Montgomery County prosecutors concluded that Hoggle was incompetent to stand trial. That conclusion was similar to one reached by doctors at Clifton T. Perkins Hospital, the state psychiatric facility Hoggle was placed in four years ago.

Hoggle was indicted on murder charges in 2017 and is believed to be the last person to see her children, Jacob and Sarah Hoggle. The youngsters were 2 and 3, respectively, when they disappeared in September of 2014.

Since their disappearance, Hoggle has been held for treatment at Perkins. Doctors treating Hoggle at the state's psychiatric facility have repeatedly determined that she is "not competent, dangerous, but restorable."

Prosecutors believe the mother is malingering so she can avoid trial on felony charges. Her most recent evaluation led prosecutors to say that Hoggle was improving and is "approaching a level of understanding in which she could be considered competent."

According to the Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office Hoggle is in the middle of a medical trial with the drug Clozapine.

The National Institutes of Health says Clozapine "is used to treat the symptoms of schizophrenia (a mental illness that causes disturbed or unusual thinking, loss of interest in life, and strong or inappropriate emotions) in patients who have not been helped by other medications or who have tried to kill themselves and are likely to try to kill or harm themselves again."

"We stand by our beliefs that Catherine is malingering," family members wrote on the FindSarahFindJacob Facebook page started by supporters of their father, Troy Turner. "This is manipulation at its finest. This isn't a guess, we have clear facts. Unfortunately for the doctors, they have no choice but to attempt to sift through nothing but lies. We are again devastated for you Sarah and Jacob. We are so sorry. We will never give up."

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