Competency Question Halts Child-Torture Trial : Courts: Two psychiatrists say Cynthia Medina is able to face charges. Defense attorney says she is ‘overwhelmed,’ will get a third opinion.

A woman charged with torturing and sexually abusing her 10-year-old nephew is mentally competent to stand trial, two court-appointed psychiatrists reported to a Superior Court judge Friday.

But at a defense attorney’s urging, the judge agreed the woman may be examined by a third psychiatrist before the competency issue is decided.

“This case is a picture of insanity,” said defense attorney Richard Gilbert. “My client is not able to help me with her defense. She’s not able to cope. She’s overwhelmed with sorrow and grief.”

Cynthia Medina, 31, is charged with three counts of felony child abuse and one count of torture. Authorities allege Medina abused her nephew over the past year by burning his tongue with heated knives and whipping him with electrical cords.

Gilbert’s request for another psychiatric examination brings the criminal proceedings in the county’s first child-torture case to a halt until the questions about her mental capability are resolved.

If Medina is found competent--either through evaluations or a hearing--she would go back to Municipal Court for further criminal prosecution. A finding of incompetence means she would be sent to a state mental hospital until she is deemed able to stand trial.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Charles J. Middleton said he believes Medina is perfectly competent to stand trial, as the two psychiatrists maintain. The question that needs to be settled to move forward with a trial is whether she is mentally competent now, Middleton said, not whether she was insane at the time the crimes were committed.

“I would think that that (the reports) would be sufficient,” he said. “I don’t know what Mr. Gilbert is doing.”

Gilbert said he plans to request a jury trial on the question of whether Medina is competent to stand trial.

Medina is accused of assaulting the boy most severely on Sept. 7, when she punished him for playing with her marijuana cigarettes, allegedly searing his tongue with a heated knife again, beating him with a miniature baseball bat and sodomizing him with it, causing severe internal injuries.

Her husband, Edward Medina, 45, is accused of standing by while the boy begged for his help. He is also charged with three counts of felony child abuse.

Gilbert said that Medina admits abusing the boy, but he contends that she was insane at the time. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Gilbert complained that the district attorney’s office has been unwilling to settle the case with a plea bargain. He insisted that the prosecution’s plans to call the boy, and the Medinas’ 9-year-old son, to testify during a trial could further traumatize the children.

Authorities say the Medinas’ son was also abused by Cynthia Medina, although not as severely. Gilbert said he plans to ask that a private attorney be appointed to protect the interests of the children.

Middleton said his office is doing everything possible to mitigate any further trauma to the children.

“My interests have always been to protect children from trauma as much as I can,” he said.

The case is due back in court Dec. 2 with a report from the third psychiatrist.

The felony abuse charges each carries a sentence of two to six years in prison. A conviction for torture could result in a sentence of life in prison.