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State v. Herring

Teen Not Mentally Fit For Trial, Judge Rules

BYLINE: Christine Stapleton, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
DATE: 05-17-1995
PUBLICATION: The Palm Beach Post
EDITION: SECTION: Newspapers_&_Newswires
PAGE: 3B

A mentally ill and retarded teenager found sitting under a tree shortly after he shot two classmates is not mentally fit to face two attempted murder charges, a judge ruled on Tuesday.

Howard Herring Jr., 14, will be sent to a state mental hospital, where he will attend classes with other retarded defendants preparing for their trials. Herring will be evaluated again in six months. `

`I'm very happy,'' said Herring's mother, Mary Toney. ``He's going to get the help he needs.''
At a similar hearing in August, a judge ruled Herring was competent to face the charges. Herring's attorney, Assistant Public Defender Chris Haddad, then renewed his efforts to have Herring declared mentally unfit for trial.

Herring looked bored for much of the two-hour hearing on Tuesday and showed no reaction when experts explained that he could be faking some of his symptoms. Experts who examined Herring found his IQ ranged from 44 to the mid-60s. An IQ below 70 is considered retarded.

Three experts agreed that Herring was incompetent. A fourth expert found Herring ``marginally competent.''

Herring was 13 when the grand jury indicted him on attempted murder charges in the March 21, 1994, shooting of two classmates on the basketball court at John F. Kennedy Middle School.

In his statement to police after the shooting, Herring said he wanted to kill 14-year-old Clarence Johnson, who Herring said had taunted him two weeks earlier and hit him in the head: ``I just meant to shoot Clarence, I'm sorry if I shot anybody else.''

Herring said he didn't know the other boy he shot, Corey Collier, 12.

Johnson spent a week in the hospital; Collier was released the day after the shooting.

© The Palm Beach Post

 
 
 

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