DEDRIC JOHNSON - 5 yo (2003)/ Accused: Father; Dedric Lamont Atkins - Chattanooga TN

Chattanooga man found competent to stand trial for 5-year-old son's 2003 death

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
August 17, 2012 - 7:18 am EDT

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — A Chattanooga man charged with killing his son 12 years ago has been found competent to stand trial.

Dedric Lamont Atkins is charged with first-degree murder in the September 2003 beating and strangulation death of his 5-year-old son, Dedric Johnson.

According to the Chattanooga Times Free Press (http://bit.ly/S3mwpi ), psychiatrists at the Middle Tennessee Mental Health Institute determined the 35-year-old Atkins no longer needed to be kept there and sent him back to Hamilton County.

Atkins' attorney, Hilary Hodgkins, has filed a motion seeking an insanity defense, based on her client's mental state at the time the boy was killed.

In a 2003 statement to police, Atkins said he heard voices on television that told him to kill his son.

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Information from: Chattanooga Times Free Press, http://www.timesfreepress.com

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/621fb70cca9a4c319067e6d0158a19d4/TN--Child-Killed

published Monday, September 17th, 2012
Chattanooga: Man pleads guilty to killing 5-year-old son

A 35-year-old Chattanooga man pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the 2003 beating and strangulation death of his 5-year-old son.

Dedric Lamont Atkins has been housed in a state mental health facility since shortly after killing his son Dedrick Kayshon Johnson on Sept. 28, 2003. He was declared competent to stand trial last year.

Atkins received a 15-year prison sentence under the plea agreement.

His attorney, Hilary Hodgkins, said that during the hearing this morning before Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Don Poole, her client said he was “telepathic and hears voices.”

Atkins suffers from schizophrenia.

Autopsy reports showed that Johnson was beaten and strangled in Atkins’ Patten Towers apartment.

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2012/sep/17/chattanooga-man-pleads-guilty-killing-5-year-old-s/