The North Carolina man accused of stabbing and decapitating his mother earlier this year has been found incompetent to stand trial, according to Fox News.
As CrimeOnline reported in March, Oliver Funes Machada, 19, called authorities to report that he had killed his mother. When officers arrived, they reportedly encountered him walking out of the Zebulon home carrying the 35-year-old victim’s head.
Boyd Sturges, the attorney representing Machada, announced Wednesday that the defendant will not face criminal prosecution at this time in lieu of involuntary commitment in a psychiatric facility.
A judge found that Machada is psychotic, a ruling Sturges said fell in line with his defense argument.
“This is consistent with what our position is,” he said.
Sturges called his client “very, very seriously deranged” in a statement Wednesday.
“And clearly he’s psychotic,” the attorney continued, “and we think the state’s correct.”
The News & Observer reported that Machada told dispatchers that he killed his mother because he “felt like it,” though his two young siblings were found unharmed at the scene.
Sturges explained Machada will undergo mental health evaluations while at the hospital, though a criminal prosecution is still a possibility.
WRAL reported that a deal with prosecutors in the case approved Machada’s commitment to a facility, provided it allowed for the case to continue if he ever regains legal competency.
Should that happen, Machada “would be returned to the custody of Franklin County Sheriff Ken Winstead, and the District Attorney’s Office will reinstate the charges against Machada,” District Attorney Michael D. Waters revealed in a statement.
In addition to the more serious charges related to his mother’s death, Machada, an illegal immigrant from Honduras, had been cleared for deportation consideration.
Bryan Cox, a spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the agency will not get involved as long as he remains in the custody of state authorities.
[Featured image: Franklin County Sheriff’s Office]
