Window into mental health of Huckaby
Transcripts show suspect in Cantu case was making progress in court ordered program
By Scott Smith
Record Staff Writer
April 18, 2009 6:00 AM
STOCKTON - Melissa Huckaby told a mental-health worker she was doing
"very, very well" less than three weeks before 8-year-old Sandra Cantu was killed, according to court transcripts obtained Friday by The Record.
The transcripts, which give a glimpse into 28-year-old Huckaby's mental-health history, come as her public defender seeks to remove Sandra's remains from a Tracy mausoleum for a second autopsy.
In Huckaby's last appearance in mental-health court March 6, her counselor reported to a judge that she was making progress. In fact, Huckaby said at the time that
"she's doing great," transcripts say.
"You know, we really work on some deep, prudent issues," San Joaquin County Mental Health Services court liaison Margie Valdez said in the hearing. "She really participates with everything and that's really good for her. I want to see her come back in a month."
That's where Huckaby's progress ended.
She missed an April 3 hearing before San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Richard Vlavianos.
On March 27, Sandra disappeared and was killed. On April 6, her body was found inside a suitcase.
Huckaby was arrested four days later and now stands accused in Sandra's death, charged with murder and the special circumstance of rape, kidnapping and lewd and lascivious acts with a child. Huckaby is eligible for a death sentence.
Court records show that Huckaby has a history of petty theft, a prelude to the alleged violence prosecutors say she committed against Sandra.
Huckaby was previously convicted of a November 2006 petty theft in Los Angeles County. She fell into the county court system following her Nov. 3, 2008, arrest for a petty theft at a Tracy Target store.
After her San Joaquin County arrest, a judge ordered two doctors to evaluate Huckaby.
They agreed she was competent to stand trial but that there was evidence of mental illness, transcripts and public court records say without revealing a diagnosis.
Huckaby agreed to
a yearlong program designed to keep the mentally ill out of jail or prison and to avoid unemployment and suicide. Prosecutors agreed to drop the petty theft count from her record if she completed the program, court papers say.
Bold added - Winnow
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http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.d...NEWS/904180324