Missing Hoggle Kids: Judge Denies Motion To Drop Murder Charges

ROCKVILLE, MD — A Montgomery County judge denied a motion to drop murder charges against Catherine Hoggle in the disappearance of her two young children on Thursday and ordered another hearing to determine whether the mother is still mentally unfit to stand trial.

In his written opinion, Circuit Court Judge Robert Greenberg addressed two key legal questions: Could Hoggle be restored to competency after repeatedly being found mentally unfit to stand trial for her children's murders? And when does Maryland law mandate he drop the charges against Hoggle?

Under state law, there is a five-year limit on how long someone charged with a felony and deemed incompetent to stand trial can be held under medical care.

David Felsen, the lawyer representing Hoggle, says time is up.

According to Felsen, time expired on Jan. 10, 2020, five years from when Hoggle was first arrested on misdemeanor charges and deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial. On the five-year anniversary, Felsen filed a motion to dismiss all felony charges against his client, in which he argued that indefinite "commitments for treatment to restore competency to stand trial are unconstitutional."

Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy says the time period after which a court must drop criminal charges against a defendant should start from the date of the first incompetency filing. In Hoggle's case, time expires on Dec. 1, 2022 — five years from when Hoggle was found unfit to stand trial after her misdemeanor charges were bumped up to felony charges.

Greenberg sided with the state and rejected Felsen's motion to drop the murder charges.

"Once the misdemeanor charges were dismissed, the clock began to run on the felony charges when Judge Mason found (Hoggle) incompetent on December 1, 2017. Accordingly, this case is not ripe for dismissal until December 1, 2022," Greenberg wrote.

He added: "The court also declines to exercise its authority to dismiss charges ... because it does not find that 'resuming the criminal proceeding would be unjust because so much time has passed since the defendant was found incompetent to stand trial.'"

Hoggle has spent the last five years in Clifton T. Perkins Hospital after her kids Sarah, then 3, and Jacob, then 2, disappeared in 2014. Doctors treating the 33-year-old at the state's psychiatric facility have repeatedly determined that she is not competent to stand trial. Until she can face trial, the judge will not allow Hoggle to be interrogated about the fate of her children.

Citing state law, Greenberg said a defendant is competent to stand trial in Maryland when: he/she is able to understand the nature or object of the proceeding and assist in his/her defense.

According to court documents, Greenberg maintained that Hoggle still remained incompetent and needed to appear in court for another competency hearing. A date for the hearing has not yet been set.

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