Long Waitlist For Defendants Incompetent To Stand Trial At Texas Mental Health Hospitals

By Jack Fink, CBS Dallas/Fort Worth

July 30, 2022

Court records show Portia Odufuwa, accused of firing a gun inside a Dallas Love Field terminal this week, has a history of being deemed incompetent to stand trial on prior criminal charges because of mental health issues.

Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot said Friday once Odufuwa is officially charged in the airport case, authorities will once again have to determine whether she's able to stand trial. "If she isn't competent to stand trial, then we start right back over, except this time with a felony that involves violence. She'll have to wait for those types of beds, the high-risk beds at the state hospitals."

The problem is the Texas Health and Human Services Commission says as of July 26, there's a waitlist of nearly 2,500 for state mental health hospital beds, where defendants deemed incompetent to stand trial can receive treatment, become stabilized and competent to stand trial.

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