A northwest Georgia judge should not have allowed prosecutors to learn that an accused killer’s attorneys wanted him evaluated by mental health experts, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled Monday.
Dustin Drew Putnal could face the death penalty if convicted of murder in the October 2016 death of 21-month-old Ella Grayce Pointer while her mother was at work. Ella was found unresponsive in a Cedartown apartment and taken to Polk County hospital before being flown to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. The toddler later died from her injuries, described as blunt force trauma to the head. She also had been sexually assaulted, according to investigators.
Putnal, who remains in the Polk jail, has been charged with malice murder, aggravated battery, and aggravated sexual battery, plus two counts each of felony murder and cruelty to children in the first degree.
In June 2017, Putnal’s attorneys requested that he be evaluated by two mental health experts. The request was made in “ex parte” motions — meaning the prosecutors would not be notified — in order to not reveal their planned defense ahead of the trial.
The judge signed the motions, but made them public instead of sealing them.
Prosecutors said they had expected Putnal’s mental health would have been a defense at his trial. But Georgia’s high court ruled the judge made a mistake.
“A defendant has a legitimate interest in making requests for access to expert assistance ex parte if not doing so would place him in the position of ‘revealing his theory of the case,’” the court wrote in its 28-page opinion.
The ruling doesn’t explain what happens next or how the case will proceed. Instead, the court is leaving it up to the judge to decide what the proper remedy is, Gerald Word, Putnal’s defense attorney, said Monday afternoon. The prosecutor was not immediately available Monday afternoon.
The state Supreme Court wrote in its ruling that it was impossible to know whether the judge’s actions could affect the outcome of the case. They added that it could be so prejudicial that it would require any later conviction or sentence for Putnal to be set aside.
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