ATLANTA — The man accused of stabbing a Buckhead grandmother to death last year was back in court for what was listed as a final plea hearing. However, it only took a matter of minutes to learn there wasn't going to be any resolution Thursday or even a trial date set for the case.
Judge Kimberly Esmond Adams signed off on a motion for a mental health evaluation, pausing the case until it's complete and scheduling a status hearing for November 9, 2023.
A not guilty plea was entered back in April for 23-year-old Antonio Brown in the December 2022 killing of Eleanor "Ellen" J. Bowles.
On Thursday, 11Alive spoke with metro Atlanta criminal defense attorney Gerald Griggs about the motion. He's not representing anyone in the case, but he is familiar with it.
"The strategy is always to make sure your client is competent, and they can understand what's happening," Griggs said. "They can understand the role of the judge. They can understand the role of the... defense attorney, the prosecutor, the jury. They have a cognitive understanding of what is happening."
However, as for the November date, he said it's not likely the evaluation will happen within two months.
"I don't see a forensic evaluation being done that quickly considering the backlog of psychological valuations throughout the state," Griggs said. "You only have one entity doing those evaluations, and it's typically Georgia Regional Hospital that has their doctors to do the competency evaluation. So it could take more than just a few months. It could take six months to nine months."
He said that backlog, which he said could be due to lack of doctors or bed space, is impacting not only metro Atlanta but also outlying counties.
Griggs noted there is a high bar for a person to be found incompetent. He said in the cases he's handled, it has only happened one or two times.
Griggs said the evaluation could impact the outcome.
"Ultimately, it will determine whether or not he can actually stand trial. So if he's found incompetent, he has to be returned to competency. And, 'Does he become a patient at Georgia Regional until he's returned to competency?' Sometimes that happens, sometimes it doesn't," Griggs said. "If he's found competent, then the trial will persist. But if his lawyer does not believe the results of the expert analysis of his mental competency, you can get a private evaluation and that can delay it. And then, ultimately, if he is found incompetent, he could plead not guilty by reason of mental defect."
Griggs added if Brown is found guilty, the evaluation could impact where he lands.
"It could also affect if he is in fact incarcerated, where he would be incarcerated, whether that's a regional hospital or ultimately the jail or if he's convicted, ultimately a prison," Griggs said. "And then if he's found guilty but has some sort of mental impairment, there are prisons in the system that deal with mental health and those type of things. So it could affect a whole range of issues in this case."
More on the case
Bowles, 77, was found stabbed to death inside her Buckhead home in the gated community of Paces West.
Atlanta Police Department investigators previously said the motive appeared to have been a crime interrupted, where Bowles encountered the suspect attempting to steal her Lexus SUV in broad daylight.
The organizer of an online fundraiser said the "kind, precious, funny, loving mother, grandmother, and friend" was preparing for the Christmas holiday before her life was taken. Additionally, police said her son, who was coming home for the holiday to visit with Bowles, found her.
"My mom was the North Star in my world," Eleanor's son Michael Bowles said previously in a statement to 11Alive. "She was a beautiful soul, and she taught me how to approach the world with empathy."
Michael said that finding his mom, an animal lover who was active with the Atlanta Humane Society, the way he did is something that will never leave him. He told 11Alive that what happened to her was "her worst nightmare."
Brown faces charges including four counts of felony murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, armed robbery, burglary in the first degree, abuse of an elder person, theft by taking, robbery, and the possession of a knife during the commission of a felony.
