The results of the psychological report on McCarrick were originally filed with the court in November but were not yet available to the public. The Walworth County District Attorney’s office said at the time that it would not contest the report.
Walworth County District Attorney Zeke Wiedenfeld told CNA in September that if a defendant is found incompetent to stand trial, the case is required to be suspended indefinitely. Only if there is a later finding that the person is competent, then the case could resume, he said.
The findings of incompetence in the Wisconsin case echo the results of psychological exams conducted on McCarrick when he was being prosecuted in Massachusetts for child sexual abuse, a case that was dismissed on Aug. 30 last year.
The Massachusetts dismissal was based on two separate psychological evaluations, one done in December 2022 for McCarrick’s defense team and the other in June 2023 conducted by Kerry Nelligan, the psychologist hired by the prosecution.
Both assessments concluded that the disgraced former archbishop of Washington, D.C., is too cognitively impaired to actively participate in his defense.
Speaking to CNA in September, Wiedenfeld said that McCarrick’s defense team raised the issue of competency in court proceedings, citing the two psychological evaluations from the Massachusetts case.
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