Carpentersville woman charged in sister's slaying wants new psychological evaluation
A 55-year-old Carpentersville woman with a history of mental illness who is charged with stabbing her sister to death in 2014 wants a second psychological evaluation done at the court's expense.
Sandra L. Baumgartner disputes the Kane County Diagnostic Center's findings and wants a judge to order the county to pay up to $10,000 for her own expert from the University of Chicago to conduct another evaluation.
The conclusions in the April 21 report by Dr. Mark Brenzinger of the Kane County Diagnostic Center are impounded under court order.
If a defendant is deemed unfit for trial, there are court orders placing that person in the custody of the state's Department of Human Services for up to a year until fitness can be restored; there are no such orders in Baumgartner's case file.
“Although the defendant has been able to employ private (defense) counsel on her behalf, she has been incarcerated for almost 1½ years and should be considered indigent,” wrote defense attorney Marc Wolfe. “Her limited financial resources, although exhausted, should not cause her to be deprived of her rights and she is entitled to the same level of representation and protections as and indigent person represented by a public defender.”
If Baumgartner's move is granted, the county will pay for Dr. Daniel Yohanna to do a second evaluation. According to Yohanna's resume included in court documents, he serves as the vice chair and associate professor at the University of Chicago's Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience.
The 60-year-old will cap his fee at $10,000, according to court records.
Kane County Judge Linda Abrahamson will consider Baumgartner's request Friday.
According to police, authorities were called to the 100 block of South Lincoln Avenue at about 5:45 p.m. Sept. 29, 2014, for a disturbance. Police found Sharon Baumgartner, 57, stabbed and later arrested Sandra Baumgartner in a nearby wooded area.
The sisters lived in the same apartment building, but different units.
Sandra was found not guilty by reason of insanity in a murder 15 years ago.
According to prosecutors and court records, Baumgartner was ordered to undergo intensive outpatient treatment after being found not guilty by reason of insanity in the April 2001 murder of a man in Memphis, Tennessee, who was stabbed 120 times. Her attorney at the time said Baumgartner suffered from schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type.
An appeals court in 2013 reaffirmed that Baumgartner should remain in intensive outpatient treatment and live with her parents.
Since her arrest, Baumgartner has been held at the Kane County jail on $1 million bail. If convicted of first-degree murder, she faces between 20 and 60 years in prison without a chance of early release.