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EmailJudge: Man Incompetent for Trial in Mother's Death
A judge has found a 21-year-old man incompetent for trial on charges he strangled his mother and then set their home on fire in St. Paul.
The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports Michael Caldwell appeared for a mental competency hearing Wednesday. Judge Joanne Smith ordered Caldwell taken to Regions Hospital after reviewing psychiatric reports that concluded he could not participate in his own defense.
Caldwell is accused of strangling his mother and setting the fire the day after she brought him back from a mental hospital in Missouri.
The body of 49-year-old Lorine Johnson was found after neighbors reported the house fire Sept. 6.
The complaint says Caldwell told police he argued with his mother about insurance money, strangled her and then used lighter fluid to set the fire.
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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