Competency evaluation may delay mom’s hearing

There will be no court appearance Monday for Angela Manns.

The Omaha woman accused of killing her 12-year-old son and leaving his decaying body in her bathtub might first be evaluated on whether she is mentally competent to stand trial.

Her defense attorney is concerned about the 46-year-old’s competency, said Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine.

“We’ll just have to see where that leads us,” Kleine said.

Manns’ defense attorney was not available for comment Thursday or Friday.

Questions about Manns’ ability to stand trial in the homicide case aren’t entirely unexpected.

Michael Belitz’s severely decayed body — with wrists and legs tightly bound in duct tape — was found in the home he shared with his mother July 12 when police responded to a 911 call. Flies covered the home’s windows. Kitty litter had been spread over the child’s body in an attempt to mask the smell. A garbage bag covered part of the body, and other garbage bags were in the bathroom.

Decomposition experts determined that Michael had been dead for at least two weeks.

Evaluations of Manns’ mental state began in late July, when she was taken from jail to the west Omaha office of Dr. Bruce Gutnik.

The process of determining whether a defendant is competent to stand trial centers on “whether this person has the present capacity to understand the proceedings,” said Raneta Mack, a professor of law at Creighton University.

“It’s whether they understand the proceedings against them, whether they can understand what’s happening to them and whether they can assist their attorneys in making a rational defense,” she said.

A decision on whether Manns is fit for a trial would lie in the hands of a Douglas County District Court judge, who likely would order a battery of state-sanctioned mental evaluations.

A defendant can be found unfit for trial but likely to become competent in the foreseeable future. Under state law, the defendant then can be committed to a mental hospital and re-evaluated for competency every six months. If the defendant later is ruled competent, a trial is held.

But if experts believe a defendant won’t become competent in the foreseeable future, the state may launch a civil case to institutionalize the defendant indefinitely or to set the defendant free.

Family members said Manns had a pattern of alcohol abuse and erratic behavior. They said she would avoid family get-togethers and often stay up late into the night to paint her living room, tear up carpet or do yard work. She drank heavily and frequently lost her temper with her children.

Michael didn’t show signs of physical abuse, family members said. But the family began to worry about the 12-year-old’s safety when Manns eventually forbade Michael from seeing his father and half-sisters.

Friends said they had not seen or heard from the bright, blond-haired boy since mid-June.

Manns lied to police after her arrest, telling investigators that her son was in Tennessee, prosecutors said.

“We’re not asking that the defendant be able to understand everything that is going on,” said Mack, the law professor. “It’s just whether they understand enough that the proceeding is going on and that they’re even on trial.”

Contact the writer:

444-1068, johnny.perez@owh.com

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