Phoenix judge to decide if 10-year-old boy charged with rape is competent to stand trial

AZ judge to decide if 10-year-old faces rape trial

PHOENIX — A 10-year-old boy charged in the alleged gang-rape of an 8-year-old Liberian girl cried in an Arizona courtroom Monday as his schoolteacher testified that he rarely did his homework and often got into fights with other students.

Toya Abrams, a second-grade teacher at Camelview Elementary School in Phoenix, says the boy had various behavioral problems.

The boy eventually put his head down on a table and began sobbing, prompting his attorney to ask for a recess.

The hearing was aimed at helping Judge Dawn Bergin decide if the boy is competent to stand trial. Two mental-health experts found that he is not.

The boy is one of four Liberian boys facing charges in the alleged attack. A 14-year-old is charged as an adult, a 13-year-old is undergoing a court-ordered process intended to make him competent for trial, and a 9-year-old has been ruled incompetent.