Fort Bliss, Iraq Vet, charged with murder found incompetent

Bliss E-4 charged with murder found incompetent

The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Aug 29, 2009 16:21:27 EDT

FORT BLISS, Texas — A Fort Bliss soldier charged with murder in the shooting death of a local high school student has been found incompetent to stand trial, the Army announced Saturday.

Spc. Gerald Polanco, 37, will be transferred within the next week from the Otero County Detention Facility in New Mexico to the Bureau of Prisons and hospitalized for up to four months, the Army said in a news release. Justice Department officials plan to place Polanco in a medical center in Missouri or one in North Carolina, Polanco’s attorney John Convery told the El Paso Times.

Polanco’s family has requested the North Carolina center because they consider it more modern, he said.

Convery told The Associated Press that he had already talked to the newspaper and that was all he was prepared to say.

He said previously that Polanco and his family tried unsuccessfully to get the soldier help through his unit before the shooting. Polanco’s family also has tried to get treatment for him at the Otero County jail, Convery said.
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Bliss E4 charged with murder found incompetent