A judge will rule next week whether attorneys for the teenagers accused in the carjacking and death of Linda Frickey will be permitted to present expert testimony on juvenile brain development, which impacts youth self-control and critical thinking.
Prosecutors on Friday asked Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Judge Kimya Holmes to bar the expert in a motion debated during the first pretrial conference since the teenager’s trial was pushed from this April until next spring.
Frickey, 73, was killed on March 22, 2022, after her sport utility vehicle was stolen and she was dragged alongside it for a Mid-City block. The brutal attack, which occurred during a surge of carjackings, led to outcry from New Orleans residents who have demanded public officials do more to halt a surge in violent crime.
Four teenagers — John Honore, 18, Lenyra Theophile, 17, Briniyah Baker, 17, and Mar’Qel Curtis, 16 — have been charged with second-degree murder.
Each has pleaded not guilty, and remains incarcerated on $1 million bail.
Honore, Baker and Curtis were scheduled to go to trial in April. Holmes reset the trial for March 18, 2024, after the Louisiana Supreme Court granted an appeal lodged by defense attorneys. The attorneys filed the appeal so that they would have time to test scientific and physical evidence.
Theophile has been declared incompetent to stand trial.
Holmes will issue her ruling on whether the defense expert can testify to juvenile brain development on Thursday. Theophile’s mental health will also be reviewed at that time.
The youths’ cognitive ability could play a crucial role in the arguments made by defense attorneys, who must attempt to prove to a jury, in part, that their clients did not intend to kill Frickey.
Not allowing the expert’s testimony would “handicap” the defense, said Curtis’ attorney, Beth Sgro.
Prosecutors wrote in their motion that permitting the defense to make this argument could set a dangerous precedent.
“For were we to accept such a defense, there would never be any type of accountability for those juveniles who commit crimes,” the prosecutors wrote.