For the second time this year, a state judge in Jefferson Parish has disregarded doctors' opinions and ruled that a politically connected Grand Isle man is mentally competent to stand trial for allegedly molesting a 6-year-old boy in early 2010. The ruling means Jerry Dantin, 77, will likely stand trial again on a charge of sexual battery.
Two separate Jefferson Parish juries have been unable to reach a verdict on whether Dantin is guilty, leading to two mistrials. Jefferson Parish prosecutors intend to try him a third time but have indicated they might reduce the charge to a lesser offense.
Dantin, a retired boat skipper known as "Captain J," has been romantically involved with Grand Isle Mayor David Camardelle's mother about 12 years and has been friends with the island's police chief, Euris Dubois, since the 1970s. Those relationships prompted the boy's mother to allege in a federal civil lawsuit that the mayor attempted a cover-up and the chief intentionally botched the investigation. The officials deny wrongdoing.
The issue is the question of whether Dantin is mentally able to stand trial, based on legal criteria. His attorney, Robert Toale, has said Dantin's memory loss has left him unable to assist in his defense. Toale has said his client is suffering from Alzheimer's disease and is generally in poor health, and as such has sought a ruling declaring his client incompetent to stand trial.
Two court-appointed doctors have found that Dantin suffers from "vascular dementia," caused by poor blood flow to his brain due to blockages in his carotid arteries. That, doctors have said, affects his memory and his ability to assist his attorney, and it could become more pronounced under the stress of trial.
The doctors, forensic psychologist Rafael Salcedo and forensic psychiatrist Richard Richoux, said in an Oct. 11 letter that in addition to physical health problems, Dantin "has significant memory problems."
"He had difficulty being able to give a date on which the alleged offense is said to have occurred, and could not give the names of the alleged victim, in spite of the fact that he has known the family for quite some time (he could not indicate how long he had known the family)," Salcedo and Richoux wrote.
They added that, "we echo our earlier recommendations that Mr. Dantin be found to be not only presently incompetent to proceed, but irrestorably so."
Judge Steve Windhorst of the 24th Judicial District Court overruled the doctors' testimony and denied Toale's request to find Dantin mentally incompetent.
Windhorst did the same in July, when he said forgetfulness is common and noted that Toale was well-versed with the case, having defended it in two trials. "I walk out of this courtroom every day. I forget things on the bench every day," he said then.
Later that month, the state 5th Circuit Court of Appeal ordered Windhorst to allow the doctors to further investigate Dantin's competency, leading to Wednesday's hearing. Windhorst stood by his earlier ruling.
Toale said he plans to ask the 5th Circuit to review Windhorst's ruling.
"I'm very optimistic that he'll be reversed again," Toale said late Wednesday. "Considering that two doctors have opined that he not competent to stand trial, I am very confident that the 5th Circuit will reverse him."
Assistant District Attorney Jerry Smith, who is prosecuting Dantin, declined to comment.
According to trial testimony, Dantin was in the cabin of his Lafitte skiff moored at Grand Isle, rubbing a lotion on a rash on his lower back when the boy, who was visiting his father at the island and knew Dantin, wandered onto the boat uninvited. The boy asked several times to help, and Dantin said he relented in allowing the boy to rub the lotion on his back above the belt.
The boy alleges Dantin had him apply lotion to his private parts and later revealed it to his mother, who reported it to police. His father testified in the second trial about noting sudden behavioral changes in his son after the alleged incident.
Toale has likened the boy to cartoon character "Dennis the Menace," and had invited himself onto Dantin's boat in the past.
Neither side in the case disputes that Dubois, the police chief, allowed the boy's mother to question Dantin during what otherwise was a police investigation in Dubois' office.
Dantin allegedly confessed, but the circumstances leading to his so-called confession, and what he actually said, are in question. That's because Dubois did not record the interrogation, according to testimony during the trials.
The resulting confusion pits the mother's testimony against that given by Dantin, Camardelle and Dubois.
Source: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/11/jefferson_parish_judge_finds_p.html
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