CONWAY -- A judge agreed Tuesday to a defense request for a mental evaluation in the case of a 16-year-old boy charged in the death of a Wooster woman.
Robert Smith III of Pine Bluff is charged as an adult with capital murder, kidnapping, aggravated robbery and theft of property in the July slaying of Elvia Fragstein, 72.
Smith and his cousin, Tacori Mackrel, 18, also of Pine Bluff, have pleaded innocent, and both are jailed without bail.
During a brief hearing before Faulkner County Circuit Judge Troy Braswell, Smith said nothing audible as he stood beside his attorney, Ron Davis.
The victim's widower, Helmut Fragstein, listened quietly from a front bench in the small courtroom.
After the hearing, Davis said the evaluation would focus on whether Smith is mentally competent to stand trial and whether he was criminally responsible at the time of the crime. Davis said he was not acknowledging that his client was involved in the alleged offenses.
The Arkansas State Hospital, which will oversee the evaluation, typically takes 60 to 90 days to complete its work, Davis said.
Braswell set Dec. 4 for Smith's next pretrial hearing.
Mackrel, who is represented by Little Rock attorney Bill James, faces an Oct. 17 pretrial hearing.
Braswell has severed the defendants' cases.
Davis said he intends to file a formal motion seeking the mental evaluation. He also is expected to ask the court at some point to transfer his client's case to juvenile court, where Smith would likely face a less-severe sentence if he is convicted.
Arkansas law provides a sentence of life in prison without parole, or death for those convicted of capital murder. The state has not said whether it will seek the death penalty for Mackrel.
Smith cannot face capital punishment because he was younger than 18 at the time of the crime.
Police have said Fragstein was kidnapped July 7 in the parking lot of Conway Commons shopping center. Her body was found July 11 on a rural road near Pine Bluff, and her vehicle was later found abandoned and destroyed by fire.
State Desk on 10/03/2018