RICHMOND, Va. - A Richmond judge ordered a mental evaluation for the teen accused in the May 1 beating death of eight-year-old Marty Cobb.
Defense attorney John Lafratta told the judge he would not be doing his job if he did not ask for a mental health evaluation for his client, 16-year-old Mairese Washington. Washington has been charged as an adult.
Washington is accused of beating Cobb to death near Cobb's home along Brandon Rd. in South Richmond.
Marty was killed trying to defend his 12-year old sister from Washington, Cobb's family said. Cobb was hit in the head with a brick.
At the John Marshal Courthouse Thursday we learned Washington was at a mental facility on the day of the attack.
He is now being held at the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice's Reception and Diagnostic Center in Bon Air. Washington will be taken from there for a mental evaluation at the Richmond jail.
Results of that evaluation will be released during his next pre-trial hearing on September 9.
Washington's mother and father were in court for Thursday's hearing, but did not comment about the court-ordered mental evaluation.
Lafratta said he believed the results of the evaluation will be a “significant factor in this case.”
