Man charged with brutal stabbing murder of 4-year-old Cash Gernon found incompetent to stand trial

The man charged with the brutal stabbing murder of 4-year-old Cash Gernon was found incompetent to stand trial after he was assessed by both the prosecution and his defense team.

Dallas Police claimed that Darriynn Brown kidnapped the boy from his bed and stabbed him to death in May 2021. The boy's body was found in the middle of a street eight blocks away by a jogger the morning after he died.

Police released home surveillance video showing someone looking like Brown grabbing Cash and walking off with him. The video showed that the same man later returned for Cash's twin brother Carter, but he was scared off.

Brown's defense team claimed that he was in a trance-like state during the murder and that he suffered from hallucinations.

A medical expert hired by the prosecution also came to the conclusion that Brown was mentally incapable of standing trial. On Friday, Brown was officially declared incompetent to stand trial.

"He can finally get the help that he needs so he can assist us in his representation," said Brown's defense attorney Heath Harris.

Brown will be likely be transferred to Vernon Psychiatric Hospital according to Harris.

"Maybe someday we can get to the facts of this case, which we believe are going to show he has a mental defect that potentially led to this tragedy," Harris added. "He may be entitled to an insanity defense."

The boy and his brother were in the care of a woman who was reportedly dating their father at the time of his murder. Their father had been on a work trip for months when his boy was murdered. The twins' mother accused the father of running off with the boys and said she had been searching for them for months.

Brown may never be found competent to stand trial for the murder of Cash. Even if he is found competent to stand trial in the future, his defense may argue that he was insane at the time of the murder. If that's the case, the prosecution will have to prove that Brown knew what he was doing was wrong at the time that he did it.

"We ask people to be patient in forming their opinions or judgments about this," defense attorney Valerie Baston said.

Here's a local news video about the ruling:

Man accused of murdering Dallas 4-year-old Cash Gernon found incompetent to stand trialwww.youtube.com