HENRICO COUNTY, Va. -- A date has been set for a jury trial for the Henrico County teenager accused of killing a 13-year-old last year.
Prosecutors allege a then 14-year-old Dylan Williams shot and killed Lucia Bremer back on March 26, 2021.
At a hearing on Wednesday, a Henrico County Circuit Court judge set the case for a three-day trial starting on Jan. 30, 2023. Williams requested it be a jury trial.
CBS 6 does not typically publish the names of children charged with crimes but made the decision to publish the teenage suspect's name after his case was moved from juvenile court and he was charged as an adult in circuit court.
The trial was supposed to begin in July but was delayed after the judge a request by Williams' defense team for a neuropsychological evaluation. Williams underwent that evaluation on what would have been the second day of the trial.
The evaluation is a new mechanism allowed under a 2021 law.
Previously, defendants could be found competent or not competent to stand trial, but the law allows for those found competent to be evaluated to determine if something in their history that could lead to some competency issues would mean they do not meet the criteria for a certain charge.
Court filings indicate Williams may have suffered head trauma when he was a child. He was also initially found incompetent to stand trial, but has since been restored and is receiving ongoing treatment to maintain that.
Criminal defense attorney Ed Riley, who is not associated with the case, said this new carve-out is a "fair thing to do."
"Because, otherwise, there's a lot of mental health issues that just went on unexplored to some degree or they could not be used -- certainly in guilt or innocence because the person wasn't insane, but they certainly had the diminished capacity or diminished ability to make choices," said Riley.
Williams' defense team told CBS 6 they received the final report about two weeks ago and decided to share it with the Commonwealth Attorney on Tuesday. They added they had not decided if they would use the report's findings in the trial.
The Commonwealth Attorney said they needed more time to review the report and determine if they would request an evaluation be completed by their own expert.
"I'm sure [the defense is] still looking at it trying to figure out exactly how to use it to the benefit of their client and doing what their job is requiring them to do to defend their client. Then you got the Commonwealth…trying to determine, 'How do we decipher this, how's the best way for us to take advantage on the behalf of the Commonwealth and the prosecution in this case, but also to be fair," said Riley. "Because if there's a legitimate mental health issue that's interplaying with this and it's caused or intervened with how the decision-making process that led to this crime -- then they want to respond to that. They're not just going to blindly prosecute somebody if there's some type of mental health issue, but these are all things that are in play and evaluations that are being made."
Neither side shared what the report's findings were.
Riley said without seeing the report, one could surmise that some sort of mental diagnosis was made in the report, but said it will depend on what that diagnosis is.
"I think with the Commonwealth it needs to do and will do, engage an expert in some capacity just to evaluate what does this mean? And a lot of it's going to depend on what that expert says," said Riley. "If their expert, or whoever they consult says, 'I agree.', then they're going to determine how to best resolve it. If the expert says, 'I don't agree, and here's why,' then I would expect there'd be a rather lengthy motion as to the challenge of the experts."
Riley said in his experience dealing with determinations of competent or not, mental health experts usually agreed on findings, but said with this new law opening up a broader spectrum -- there could be more chance of a disagreement.
"Although, I tend to find most experts will be in accordance as to, 'yeah, the symptoms are there. This is what we're looking for, he meets it,' but, what are their conclusions going to be?" said Riley.
The next hearing for the case will be a status hearing on Sept. 29 at 8:45 a.m.
This is a developing story, so anyone with more information can email newstips@wtvr.com to send a tip.
