Aug 23, 2008 5:33 pm US/Eastern
Accused Child Killer Wants To Represent Himself
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
A Baltimore City judge orders a competency hearing for the Montgomery County man charged with drowning his three children.
Pat Warren reports 41-year-old Mark Castillo is trying to fire his lawyers.
Judge Gale Rasin cautioned Mark Castillo Friday against asking to dismiss his public defender in what she alternately describes as a worst possible, extraordinary and very serious case when he didn't even know how to properly file a motion.
Castillo is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the drowning deaths of his three children at the downtown Marriott Hotel in March.
Police say Castillo told them he drowned the children, then he tried to overdose on Motrin and stabbed himself in the neck.
The children's mother Dr. Amy Castillo, who was not in court Friday, issued a statement shortly after learning of her children's murders.
"The difficult part is that I don't understand it right now. And at this time, I'm just so afraid to go through this pain that I know I must go through," said Dr. Castillo.
After about 45 minutes, during which Castillo accused his public defender of lying to him among other complaints and insisting that he could defend himself, he told the judge he would welcome a competency hearing, and she ordered it.
Castillo's next court date is Sept. 3.
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