A defense attorney has filed court motions stating an insanity defense may be used in the trial of Stanley Allen Smith, accused of kidnapping and raping a 6-year-old Corinne girl.
Attorney Nathan Hult filed the motions in First District Court Monday. He has requested that Smith undergo psychiatric evaluation to determine whether he is competent to stand trial.Smith, 30, has twice tried to kill himself while he has been held in the Box Elder County Jail on four first-degree felony charges stemming from the May 8 sexual attack on a girl abducted from a Corinne school yard.
Prosecutors allege Smith drove the child to an isolated area some 10 miles southwest of Corinne where he raped and sodomized her before returning her to town.
A neighbor discovered the child in shock within a few blocks of her home as a search had just begun. The girl's injuries required surgery.
Smith pleaded innocent in June to charges of aggravated kidnapping, rape of a child and two counts of sodomy of a child.
"He does suffer from auditory hallucinations. . .He hears voices," said Hult. "He also claims no memory of the incident."
Hult's motions ask the court to appoint two mental health professionals to examine Smith to determine his competency to stand trial and assist in his own defense. They also would be asked to discern his state of mind at the time of the alleged offenses.
Box Elder County Attorney Jon Bunderson said he expects the motions will be granted, since state law entitles a defendant to a psychiatric evaluation if requested.
A psychiatric examination would take 30 to 60 days.