FORENSIC EXAM: Grandma 'Mentally Not Fit' To Stand Trial

All signs appear headed toward a possible insanity defense of an Oak Lawn grandmother accused of murdering her infant granddaughter last October.

Alfreda Gierdorojc, 62, made a brief appearance in Cook County Judge Colleen Hyland’s courtroom Wednesday morning.

The topic of discussion for the Oak Lawn grandmother were the results of her court-ordered psychiatric examination. The exam was delayed several months because of lost paperwork.

“We have the return of the forensic exam,” assistant public defender Michael Wilson said. “[Gierdorojc] is mentally not fit to stand trial.”

The court-ordered examination was signed by Dr. Mathew S. Markos, who heads Cook County’s Forensic Clinical Services.

Cook County Prosecutor Michael Deeno told the judge that the state would not be seeking a  “second opinion.”

Gierdorojc is charged with first-degree murder. Prosecutors maintain that Gierdorojc allegedly slashed her 6-month-old granddaughter’s throat and then bludgeoned the baby with a sledgehammer in her Oak Lawn home on Oct. 6, 2013. She is being held without bail at Cook County Jail.

Wilson, Gierdorojc's public defender, has expressed "bonafide doubts" in court about his client's sanity.

The Oak Lawn woman, wearing a dark blue jail uniform, appeared to be glancing around the courtroom at spectators during her hearing.

Judge Hyland set a June 4 date for a fitness hearing at Leighton Criminal Courts Building at 26th and California.

The hearing is likely to include more details from Gierdorojc’s psychiatric examination in determining her ability to participate in her own defense and her mental capacity to undergo trial.