Woman accused of murdering toddler ruled incompetent; trial pushed off until next year
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
A woman accused of murdering a toddler five years ago was ruled incompetent by a judge on Monday.
Quatavia Givens, 30, is charged with first-degree murder, endangering the welfare of a child, abuse or neglect of a child and abandonment of a corpse in relation to the death of 4-year-old Darnell Gray in 2018.
A commitment order was filed Monday and she has been committed to the Department of Mental Health, according to Cole County Prosecutor Locke Thompson. The trial dates originally set for September have been postponed to next year.
Givens will receive treatment for six months. During that time, the Department of Mental Health will prepare a review for the court to see if she is fit for trial. According to Caesnet, a case review is set for 9 a.m. Thursday, March 7, 2024. A pretrial conference is scheduled for March 20.
Givens appeared in court last week and “the matter of competency was taken under advisement,” according to the Cole County prosecutor at the time.
Givens -- who has been previously described as a caretaker -- was accused of killing Darnell Gray in October 2018. Court documents say she initially reported Gray as being abducted or that he had run away from her house in the 1100 block of Buena Vista Street in Jefferson City.
The boy was missing for six days before he was located by local law enforcement in the 2100 block of Louis Circle in Jefferson City.
A grand jury's indictment charged Givens with first-degree murder when it was revealed that Gray had been suffocated.
"I do not believe this is justice for Darnell Gray at all and I hope during the next six months during her mental health evaluation that they’re able to figure out that she is competent to stand trial because I believe she is. she was competent enough to go and search for him so I don’t know why she would not be competent now," RaVae Edwards-Moore, the CEO of Missouri Missing told ABC 17 News.
