Competency hearing begins Jan. 27 for Dorothy June Brown

A federal judge has scheduled a hearing to begin Jan. 27 to determine whether Dorothy June Brown is competent to be retried on charges she defrauded the charter schools she founded of $6.3 million.

Brown's attorneys raised the question of her competency days before she was scheduled to go to trial in September.

U.S. District Judge R. Barclay Surrick has scheduled testimony over three days from psychologists and psychiatrists who examined Brown for the defense and for the government. He also will hear from a forensic psychologist from the Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth, Tx.

Under court order, Brown spent 29 days at that federal prison facility where she was evaluated to see whether she suffers from mental disease or a defect that would make it impossible for her to understand the charges or participate in her defense.

- Martha Woodall