2nd fitness evaluation sought in Sleepy Hollow home invasion, rape and stabbing
A fitness evaluation has been completed for the man charged with a brutal 2019 home invasion, rape and attempted murder in Sleepy Hollow.
But defense attorneys for Fabian J. Torres, 32, of Sleepy Hollow who is held without bail and faces life in prison, want a second "independent fitness evaluation." They are next due before a judge on June 5, according to Kane County court records.
Torres is charged with 26 felonies in the April 8, 2019, attack in which prosecutors say he forced his way into a house on the 900 block of Saratoga Parkway, forced a 19-year-old girl to perform a sex act at knife point and later stabbed her 17-year-old brother after he tried to intervene.
According to prosecutors, Torres ran from the house but left his cellphone and wallet there. He was arrested a short time later while trying flag down a vehicle.
Last year, defense attorneys from the Kane County public defender's office questioned whether Torres, who also is charged with attacking Kane County jail guards on several occasions, was fit to stand trial.
Prosecutors and Torres' defense attorney have received the confidential mental fitness evaluation by the Kane County Diagnostic Center. His attorney wants a second, independent evaluation, according to court records.
"The state is satisfied with the report generated by the Kane County Diagnostic Center and we want to move the case forward," said Kane County state's attorney Felony Bureau Chief Bill Engerman.
Judge David Kliment on Thursday continued the case to June for a status on the defense's evaluation. Assistant Public Defender Brenda Willett declined to comment Thursday.
If Kliment rules Torres is unfit to stand trial, he will be sent to the state's Department of Human Services for up to a year until fitness is restored.