Waverly man accused of killing wife, unborn child still unfit to stand trial

By Gary Scott on January 18, 2018 at 12:26pm

The Waverly man accused of murdering his wife and unborn child back in September is still unfit to stand trial.

A hearing in Morgan County Court Tuesday was scheduled to review the fitness of 29-year old Nathan Henson. At that hearing, Morgan County State’s Attorney Gray Noll, along with Defense Attorney Tom Piper and Judge Chris Reif reviewed a report from the Illinois Department of Human Services regarding Henson’s fitness.

Noll goes over what occurred at Tuesday’s hearing, and what the DHS report revealed.

“Mr. Henson’s case was set on Tuesday for a status. Mr. Henson did not appear, however, his attorney appeared and I appeared on behalf of the people of Morgan County. There was a report that was presented to the court from the Department of Human Services which both parties stipulated to the contents of which basically said the defendant was admitted to the Department of Human Services…by their initial evaluation, he is unfit currently to stand trial, but that he is likely to obtain fitness within one year,” says Noll.

Noll explains what will occur if Henson is found to be fit to stand trial between now and his next court date.

“If the defendant is found fit between now and his next court date, then he’ll be remanded back to Morgan County and he will appear on his next court date. If he is still undergoing treatment to obtain fitness, then (his next court date) will just be a status, and the same thing will occur at that point,” Noll says.

Henson is accused of first degree murder and knowingly causing the death of an unborn child, which both carry possible sentencing ranges of 20 to 60 years in prison.

Henson’s next court date is set for March 6th.