Hospital Transfer Lags for Woman Charged in Nephew’s Death

LUFKIN, Texas (AP) — An East Texas woman found incompetent to stand trial in the death of her nephew has remained in county jail eight months after she was committed to a mental health facility.

The Lufkin Daily News reports that Billie Jean Cuttler, charged with capital murder after the body of 3-year-old Mason Cuttler was found in a pond, was ordered to a state hospital to undergo a program to better understand court proceedings. Afterward she would stand trial or charges would be dismissed.

During a competency trial, an expert testified that Cuttler intellectually functioned below 99.8 percent of the population.

The boy's father and Cuttler's then-boyfriend Bobby Woods Jr. is also charged in the boy's death. He has spent more than two years in the county jail awaiting trial.