A Gillespie woman could be facing a lengthy period of incarceration if she is convicted on separate charges across five counties in West Central Illinois. However, that now may hinge on if she is fit to stand trial.
25-year-old Abigail L. Martin was present in Greene County Court Wednesday morning as Public Defender Tom Piper requested a continuance in order to file a motion to determine if Martin is mentally fit to stand trial.
Martin is facing charges in Greene of writing a bad check and possession of a stolen vehicle stemming from an arrest in early October of last year. Piper is also representing Martin in Morgan County where she faces a charge of forgery.
Greene County State’s Attorney Caleb Briscoe says Public Defender Piper informed the court that based on conversations he has had with Martin, he has questions as to whether she is fit to stand trial.
“More so, can she understand what is going on in assisting with her defense, that type of thing, and that he nor the court nor I are experts in that field so he can’t say definitively one way or the other. But based on his years of experience he is asking the court to have an expert evaluate her and make sure that she is competent or fit to stand trial.
After we recessed yesterday’s hearing, [Piper] is supposed to put that motion on file, contact Dr. Cuneo who is the one who typically does the Greene County fitness examinations, to talk about if the judge were to grant that motion when we could expect the evaluation to take place and the report following that.”
Martin also faces charges of practicing as a registered nurse without a license and identity theft in Montgomery County, and three charges of identity theft in Madison County. Martin is wanted on an active Madison County warrant and is due to appear in court tomorrow.
Briscoe says if she is taken into custody Friday, it will not hamper the fitness evaluation. “I can’t speak for any other county, but Dr. Cuneo is I think based in Madison County, and he does evaluations for them too and has done those via Zoom or Skype or whichever electronic-based communication system that they have when people are incarcerated in the various detention centers in Madison County.
So potentially if we can get that scheduled and she was to be incarcerated in Madison County, I don’t anticipate that being a problem or delaying that in any way. I can’t say for certain, but I don’t anticipate that.”
Martin also faces charges of using an account code with intent to defraud, theft, and deceptive practice in Fulton County. Briscoe says he has spoken with some of the other counties Martin is alleged to have committed crimes in.
“I have spoken to Mr. Noll in Morgan County. I’ve talked to Andrew Affrunti in Montgomery County, he has some charges pending down there. I did talk to an Assistant State’s Attorney who would be prosecuting her in Fulton County.
I talked to them generally about what we were looking for in Greene and what they would be seeing in their counties. I have not spoken with anyone in Madison County yet. It’s a bigger office, it’s hard not to get bounced around, but hopefully, we can make that conversation happen soon.”
Briscoe says Martin is currently out on bond in each of the counties and that she could be facing lengthy incarceration. He says if she is sentenced to incarceration in each of the counties, those sentences would run back to back.
Martin is next due in Morgan County on June 29th for pre-trial a conference, and Greene County Court on June 28th.