[Steeltrap]

startribune.com
Judge orders mental competency evaluation for Naomi Gaines


Published 08/09/2003

A judge Friday ordered Naomi Gaines to undergo a mental competency evaluation to determine if she is competent to stand trial and if she was legally sane when she threw her infant sons from a St. Paul bridge July 4.

Gaines, 24, of St. Paul, is charged with killing one of the boys; the other was rescued by passersby at the scene. As part of a civil mental-commitment proceeding, she is at the Minnesota Security Hospital in St. Peter for a psychiatric evaluation.

Her next court appearance in her criminal case is set for Oct. 8. She hasn't entered a plea.

Gaines was charged with intentional second-degree murder and attempted intentional second-degree murder after she threw the boys, Sincere Understanding Allah and Supreme Knowledge Allah, off the Wabasha Street Bridge into the Mississippi River and then jumped herself.

Several people who had gathered for the Taste of Minnesota celebration pulled her and Supreme Knowledge to safety. Boaters found Sincere Understanding's body 11 miles downriver two days later.

Ramsey County Court Referee James Finley ruled July 30 that Gaines is mentally ill and poses a danger to herself and others. He ordered that she be sent to the Security Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation to determine if she should be committed to a hospital under civil law.

The civil commitment process was initiated by a petition signed by a doctor at Regions Hospital in St. Paul. Gaines had been in a psychiatric ward there after her arrest.

A spokesman for the Ramsey County attorney's office said the civil commitment proceeding does not affect her criminal case.

Paul Gustafson

© Copyright 2003 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.