Prosecutors again ask for new doctor in Catherine Hoggle murder case

The Montgomery County, Maryland, mother charged with murdering her two children when they were toddlers has again been found incompetent to stand trial.

Catherine Hoggle is charged with murdering her 3-year-old daughter Sarah and 2-year-old son Jacob, who were last seen in September 2014. Their bodies have never been found.

In a court appearance Tuesday, Montgomery County prosecutors again asked Judge Robert Greenberg to grant an independent mental health evaluation of Hoggle.

For the last five years, her mental state has been determined by doctors at Clifton T. Perkins hospital, which is the state psychiatric hospital.

Prosecutors made a similar request back in March, telling the judge that the doctors were doing “a substandard job in evaluating Ms. Hoggle.”

Defense attorneys argued that the state’s attorney can’t merely pick their own doctor when they don’t like the evaluation results.

Greenberg denied the request in April. He’ll issue his ruling on the new request July 3.

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