WYOMING, Mich. — A psychological evaluation has been ordered for Javonte Higgins.
He’s been charged for a number of home invasions and auto theft in Wyoming. Police say the crimes happened in fall 2012.
Wednesday, Higgins faced a judge in Wyoming District Court for a preliminary hearing. He didn’t answer the judge’s questions nor did he make eye contact.
Normally, defendants are brought into the courtroom for their preliminary examination. Higgins did his prelim on closed circuit television.
“We’re doing this by video because you were smearing your own feces all over your face,” the judge said.
“You were refusing to come out of the cell. So we’ve chosen to do this by video for your own safety, for the safety of the staff and I guess for hygiene,” the judge explained.
Higgins sat shirtless and in a restraint. He drooled during the entire hearing. The court administrator says Higgins was very uncooperative with deputies before the court proceeding. That caused the hearing to be delayed.
Higgins is also the suspect in the murder of a Kentwood couple. David and Vivian Bouwman were found murdered in their home in early January. Higgins has yet to be charged in that case.
“We will ask though that any competency exam be done in a way that is the most secure way so that it can be done at the jail or other lockdown facility that would be my preference,” the judge said of Higgins.
“Mr. Higgins has presented himself to be a flight risk, number one and a number two, certainly a risk to the community,” he said to the court.
The judge will take a look at the psychological evaluation and then determine if Higgins’ case will be bound over to circuit court.
The court administrator says the evaluation could take up to six months to perform and get back.
