A new mental examination has been ordered for an Oak Lawn grandmother regarding whether she is sane enough to stand trial for the brutal slaying of her infant granddaughter in October 2013.
Alfreda Giedrojc was declared mentally unfit in July 2014 to be tried in the death of 5-month-old Vivian Summer, but a re-evaluation in October of that year put her back on a path for a murder trial, according to court records.
Cook County Circuit Court Judge Colleen Hyland on Wednesday approved a defense motion, allowing a new expert to evaluate Giedrojc behind bars. The defense’s psychologist, Dr. Robert Hanlon, will rely on an interpreter to evaluate Giedrojc, who came to America in 1983 and has an eighth-grade education.
Her public defender said Wednesday that he disagrees with the re-assessment that the 63-year-old Polish immigrant is mentally competent to stand trial.
Giedrojc was admitted to McFarland Mental Health Center in Springfield in August 2014, just one month after a different judge declared her unfit for trial, according to court records. They indicate that she was diagnosed with a history of “major depressive disorder” but was in remission after receiving regular doses of antidepressant and antipsychotic medication.
An evaluation described her as “quiet and submissive” and that she speaks little but listens to other more talkative patients, court records show.
They say the October 2014 evaluation determined that Giedrojc understood the accusations and what the consequences of a trial would be but that she would need to stay on medication to maintain her sanity. She has denied any thoughts of suicide or homicide while under evaluation, according to the records.
The slaying of the baby girl shocked residents of Oak Lawn, which had not seen a murder in three years.
The child’s father, Joe Summers, of Bolingbrook, had left her at Giedrojc’s home while he helped fix his brother-in-law’s house across the street, authorities said.
After Giedrojc’s husband left to check on the work, she allegedly placed the sleeping infant on the floor and repeatedly hit her with a sledgehammer. The woman retrieved a knife from the kitchen and slit the infant’s throat when she wouldn’t stop crying, according to authorities.
Prosecutors said Giedrojc admitted to the killing in a videotaped confession. No motive has surfaced so far for the attack.
Giedrojc, who is charged with first-degree murder, has been held without bail since her arrest.
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