Nationwide — Cane Madden, a white man from Louisville, Kentucky who was accused of raping and killing an 8-year old Black girl in 2019, has been found incompetent to stand trial. As to be expected, many people of color are upset with the judge’s ruling.
On March 11, Judge Annie O’Connell dismissed the case, noting Madden was mentally incompetent to stand trial. The only punishment Madden will possibly face is to be involuntarily sent to a mental facility.
The crime happened just six months after Madden was set free from another sexual assault case. O’Connell was the same judge who ruled him unfit for trial in the case wherein he raped and bit off a chunk of a woman’s face in 2017.
Moreover, there had been a dispute whether Madden is fit or unfit for trial. Dr. Timothy Allen, a psychiatrist who observed Madden during the 2020 evaluation, believed that Madden knows how to “manipulate the system” and that’s what he had been doing, according to WDRB.
With the news of Madden possibly going to be set free, the community members in Kentucky were disappointed. More than 3,000 people signed petitions to keep Madden off the street.
