GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WZZM) - A forensic examiner has found that 12-year-old Jamarion Lawhorn is competent to stand trial for fatally stabbing a younger boy last August at a Kentwood playground.
A 33-page psychiatric exam completed last week found that Jamarion understands the nature of the crime and can assist in his own defense. He's accused of fatally stabbing 9-year-old Connor Verkerke on August 4th moments after Connor fell off a slide.
Dr. Susan Tremonti, a forensic examiner Michigan Center for Forensic Psychiatry in Ann Arbor determined Jamarion understands the proceedings against him and can be held criminally responsible.
Anita Lawhorn said outside of court Tuesday she disagrees with the report. "He's a baby,'' she said. "He doesn't understand what's going on.''
During today's hearing in Kent County Circuit Court, Judge Paul Denenfeld asked the boy if he understood what was happening in the sixth-floor courtroom. "Yes sir,'' Jamarion responded.
"(Tremonti) has rendered an opinion that you do understand what this case is about and that you are able to work with your lawyers. Do you understand that one person has rendered that opinion?" the judge asked. "Yes sir,'' Jamarion responded.
Lawhorn's attorney Charles Boekeloo and court-appointed guardian Judith Raskiewicz, asked the court for two weeks to discuss the report. They will return to Denenfeld's chambers Jan. 8 at which time Boekeloo will let the court know if he'll ask for an independent competency exam.
Jamarion, dressed in a blue and yellow sweatshirt from the Kent County juvenile detention facility, looked on attentively during the hearing, occasionally glancing at his mother, who was seated beside him. The boy appears to have gained weight since his last court appearance.
Outside of court, Anita Lawhorn said she disagrees with the forensic examiner's findings.
"That's their opinion. He's 12 years old,'' Anita Lawhorn said. "If it was someone else's 12-year-old I would feel the same. He's a kid. He's a baby. It's not an adult.''
If convicted of murder, Lawhorn would be held in a juvenile facility until he's 21. He could then be released or sent to an adult prison.
When asked if she believes an independent evaluation should be conducted, Anita Lawhorn responded: "Yes there should.''
Lawhorn said she hopes to eventually get her children back. Within days of the Aug. 4th homicide, Kent County Child Protective Services workers removed Lawhorn's other three children, ages 14, 7 and 2, from her home, located a short distance from the playground.
I don't like what's going on, but it is what it is,'' she said Tuesday. "I just pray for my family, I pray for him and I love him unconditionally and I make sure I let them know that every day. And that's how we deal with it.''
Anita Lawhorn's parenting skills were called into question three years before Jamarion was born. In 1999, she voluntarily surrendered custody of two daughters in New York. One had four broken bones and the other had what investigators believed to be cigarette burns on her chest.
In May, 2013, Kent County Child Protective Services visited Lawhorn's home at 5600 Jefferson Ave. SE to investigate allegations of abuse.
"Jamarion told the caseworker that his stepfather whups (sic) him with an extension cord on his buttock, legs and back,'' Kentwood Detective Erin Kitchhka wrote in a probable cause affidavit. "Additionally, Bernard sometimes punches him in the chest and stomach.
"Jamarion also disclosed that his mother had recently whupped him with a belt on his buttock and the back of the legs,'' the affidavit continues. "At that time the caseworker observed marks on the back of Jamarion's legs.
"The caseworker interviewed both Anita and Bernard about the abuse and both admitted to whupping Jamarion,'' the probable cause affidavit concludes.
Anita Lawhorn and the boy's father still face child abuse charges for injuries Jamarion suffered a year before the stabbing. Those cases are pending in Kent County Circuit Court.
