Newz Forum: BASKETBALL: Dotson's Lawyers: Incompetent to stand trail

Psychological testing shows that the former Baylor University basketball player accused of gunning down one of his teammates is not competent to stand trial, his attorneys said Wednesday.

Carlton Dotson's attorneys plan to file a motion Thursday asking the judge to delay the athlete's October murder trial, Waco attorney Abel Reyna said. A judge will consider the motion at a Friday hearing.

Dotson, 22, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of killing Patrick Dennehy last summer in a field near Baylor's Waco, Texas, campus.

At a court hearing nearly two weeks ago, state District Judge George Allen approved defense attorneys' request for a psychologist to conduct tests on Dotson to see if he has a mental disability or is faking.

Reyna said Wednesday night that Dr. George Parker of Austin recently performed written tests and counseling and determined that Dotson is not competent to stand trial.

"I think our expert believes that with proper medication and treatment, that he will be able to regain competency in the foreseeable future," Reyna said. "That will be left up to the individuals at the facility as to when he regains competency."

Reyna said he was not sure if the defense motion would include a request to send Dotson to a mental facility.

Dotson was arrested in July 2003 in his home state of Maryland after calling police from a supermarket, saying he was hearing voices and needed counseling. Officers took him to a hospital, where he contacted the FBI. Later, he denied that he confessed to killing Dennehy.

A few days later, Dennehy's body was found.

Authorities have refused to discuss a motive for the slaying or say if Dotson led them to the body. Dennehy, 21, had been missing about six weeks.

Some people close to Dotson said he reported hearing voices and seeing visions in 2002. Dotson's estranged wife has said that he became so paranoid and violent that she left him in the spring of 2003 -- prompting him to move in with Dennehy.