Missing Hoggle Kids: Separate Evaluation Requested Again For Mom

ROCKVILLE, MD — A Montgomery County Circuit Court judge on Tuesday has once again ruled that Catherine Hoggle — the mother indicted for the murder of her two children — remains incompetent to stand trial.

The 32-year-old was indicted on murder charges in 2017 and is believed to be the last person to see her children, Sarah and Jacob Hoggle. Sarah and Jacob were two and three when they disappeared in September of 2014. Since their disappearance, Hoggle has been held for treatment at Clifton T. Perkins Hospital in Jessup.

Doctors treating Hoggle at the state's psychiatric facility have repeatedly determined that she is "not competent, dangerous, but restorable." Until she can face trial, the judge will not allow Hoggle to be interrogated about the fate of her children.

At Hoggle's last competency hearing in March, state prosecutors asked Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Robert Greenberg to allow a doctor of their choosing to evaluate Hoggle.

Troy Turner — Hoggle's estranged partner and the father of Sarah and Jacob — said it is necessary for the state to conduct a separate evaluation. He, as well as state prosecutors, believe Hoggle is malingering so she can avoid trial on the felony charges.

"If true mental illness kept people from going to trial, anyone who committed a crime wouldn't be in prison," Turner said.

Hoggle's attorney, David Felsen, said he was surprised by the state's request.

"There's no authority for the state to pick a doctor to do an evaluation. And that's what they asked for," Felsen told Patch.

In an effort to get an independent state evaluation for Hoggle, prosecutors filed a motion with the judge in March.

"She knows the charges...she knows her role...she understands all these things," Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy said.

But in court on Tuesday, they learned that Greenberg never received the state's request for an independent mental evaluation.

"We have never known that the judge has never seen the plea," McCarthy said.

Patch has obtained a copy of the state's 11-page request. In it, prosecutors refer to Dr. Danielle Robinson, who is treating Hoggle at Perkins, and her competency reports, which have repeatedly found that Hoggle is "not competent...but restorable," a conclusion that prosecutors find hard to believe.

According to court records, Robinson has also written a competency report for another patient: Dr. John Lutz.

Lutz, a former internist, was sentenced to life in prison for the 2002 murder of a mental health therapist. Before he was sentenced, Robinson opined that Lutz was incompetent to stand trial.

"Dr. Robinson testified that that the defendant 'has generally had a good factual understanding of the legal system,'" state prosecutors cited in their request. "Dr. Robinson further testified that Mr. Lutz was inflexible in his desire to have his attorney pursue a specific legal argument to the court and was unwilling to heed his attorney's advice regarding his best defense strategy. She opined that his lack of flexibility regarding his defense strategy amounted to an inability to assist in his own defense."

The judge presiding over the case, Ronald B. Rubin, challenged Robinson's findings.

"In Judge Rubin's ruling, he commented on Dr. Robinson's opinion stating that it was 'not worthy of belief, not based on an adequate factual basis,'" according to the plea. "He went on to say, 'she either misunderstands or has misapplied, or both, the applicable legal standard. I find it astounding for her to say something like well, because the defendant insists on litigating pretrial both fifth and fourth amendment issues he must be incompetent and inflexible, when she doesn't even know whether or not they have any merit. That, in my opinion, is ridiculous.'"

In Hoggle's case, prosecutors suggest Robinson has "similarly, misunderstood and/or misapplied the applicable law regarding criminal competency."

They go on to say that Hoggle is keenly aware of what's going on in court.

"Dr. Robinson asserts that the defendant has an unrealistic assessment of the State's case in that she believes the State has significant evidence against her, but that the State doesn't 'have anything key they need… like my children.' In fact, Ms. Hoggle's observations regarding the strength of the State's case are astute and accurate. She is able to recognize that, while the State has significant circumstantial evidence against her, trying a murder case where bodies have not been recovered is a difficult proposition."

Because they believe Hoggle is competent to stand trial, prosecutors have requested, in writing, that she undergo an independent state evaluation.

On Tuesday, Judge Greenberg said he did not receive the plea, but was going to look it over. He is scheduled to make his decision on whether to allow an independent evaluation on July 3.

Outside the courtroom, Turner said his missing son, Jacob, would be turning seven on July 3, according to Montgomery Community Media.

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