Judge: Teen accused of decapitating mom sent to hospital

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - A defense attorney says a North Carolina teenager accused of decapitating his mother is psychotic and won't be prosecuted on a murder charge.

Defense attorney Boyd Sturges said Wednesday that a judge ordered 19-year-old Oliver Funes Machada involuntarily committed to a state psychiatric hospital.

Sturges said the prosecutor agreed to dismiss the murder charge under an arrangement that could allow the case to be pursued again if Machada were deemed competent in the future.

Warrants say Machada told a 911 dispatcher he stabbed his mother repeatedly earlier this year because she had angered him. Court documents say a deputy saw him carry his mother's severed head outside.

Sturges said that he has maintained that his client was "very seriously deranged" and agreed with the experts' assessment.