CLEVELAND — A Cleveland woman charged in the alleged murder of her 3-year-old son this past spring has been found not mentally competent to stand trial, although prosecutors have clarified this status is subject to change.
Thirty-year-old Timmeka Eggleton is accused of beating Curtis Lee James Witcher to death back in June. At a pretrial hearing on Tuesday, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Brendan J. Sheehan declared she is not currently capable of being put on trial but also "restorable," and ordered her to be taken to Northcoast Behavioral Health in Northfield for treatment.
By Ohio law, this means if Eggleton's mental state can be reasonably restored within a year, she can still be tried in the case. If not, then prosecutors count be forced to drop the charges.
Eggleton's son Curtis was found unconscious inside a stroller at the Family Dollar on Euclid Avenue back on June 14, and was later pronounced dead at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner ruled his death to be a homicide from blunt force trauma, and his mother was arrested five days later and issued a $1 million bond.
"My heart breaks for everyone that loved this boy," County Prosecutor Michael C. O'Malley said following Eggleton's indictment. "As a parent, it is horrific to think that a mother would kill her three-year-old son."
Besides aggravated murder, Eggleton also faces two counts of murder and one count each of felonious assault and endangering children. Prosecutors elected not to pursue the death penalty, meaning the defendant could only face up to life in prison without the possibility of parole, if convicted.
