Jacks Attorney Raises Competency Concerns; Defense Cites Newly Issued Report

Banita Jacks's attorneys made a last-minute effort Monday to alert a D.C. Superior Court judge that Jacks might not have been competent when she refused to pursue an insanity defense, telling the judge that they had considered mounting such a defense against her wishes.

After closing arguments on the last day of the trial, one of Jacks's three attorneys, David Norman, requested a bench conference. Norman told Judge Frederick H. Weisberg that he had a newly issued report from a doctor who had evaluated Jacks within days of her Jan. 9, 2008, arrest, after the decomposing bodies of her four daughters, ages 5, 6, 11 and 16, were found in her Southeast Washington rowhouse.

Norman said the report -- which he said was completed last week -- raises questions about Jacks's mental state at the time she rejected her attorney's advice to mount an insanity defense. Norman said the doctor was not able to complete the report because Jacks quickly rejected that defense. The report outlines statements Jacks is alleged to have made to the doctor.

"It lays out the basis of our concern about the viability of her defense and her capacity to make a competent waiver of it," Norman said.

Weisberg expressed irritation that the lawyers had waited so long to present the report. He also questioned why the defense made the motion at the bench ex parte, or without prosecutors present.

Weisberg told Norman that if the issue were to come up again, "I would not do it on an ex parte basis. The government has a say in whether or not an insanity defense is imposed against the will of the defendant."

Weisberg said he would not read the report until after he issued a verdict, which he could do as soon as Wednesday.

"I don't think the verdict should be influenced by any slight degree by anything that might be contained in your motion or the motion itself. So take it back," he told Norman.

Weisberg then ordered the bench conference sealed.

The bench conference appeared to be a defense tactic to prepare for Jacks's appeal should Weisberg find her guilty. In addition to rejecting an insanity defense, Jacks also waived her right to a jury trial.

During hearings last year before the trial, Weisberg ordered several competency hearings for Jacks. She refused to comply. He then ordered her briefly committed to St. Elizabeths Hospital for evaluation before determining that she was competent enough to refuse an insanity defense.

Jacks, 35, is charged with 12 counts, including first-degree murder and cruelty to children. Because of the ages of the victims, Jacks faces life in prison without parole if convicted. Prosecutors said that the girls had been dead for about seven months when they were found and that the teenager had been stabbed and the three younger girls strangled.