Kenneth Niemeyer
Defense attorney Tony Farese is requesting a psychiatric evaluation for former Oxford Police Officer Matthew Kinne, who is awaiting trial for the murder of Dominique Clayton. Kinne was charged with the murder of Clayton, a Black woman with whom he allegedly had a romantic relationship, in Aug. 2019.
Kinne is accused of breaking into Clayton’s home and shooting her in the head in May 2019.
Farese filed the motion for a psychiatric evaluation on Sept. 11, which says that Kinne’s defense believes he needs to be examined by a medical professional to determine whether he is “mentally capable of conferring with his attorney and making a rational defense and whether he was mentally capable of distinguishing between right and wrong at the time of the offense with which he is charged.”
The document indicates that the defense intends to use the insanity defense for Kinne. Under Rule 12.1 of the Mississippi Rules of Criminal Procedure, “in order to be deemed mentally competent, a defendant must have the ability to perceive and understand the nature of the proceedings, to communicate rationally with the defendant’s attorney about the case, to recall relevant facts and to testify in the defendant’s own defense, if appropriate.”
Kinne’s trial was initially scheduled to be held in late April, but the trial was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Lafayette County Circuit Court has not announced when it will hear Kinne’s case for trial.
