A hearing to determine whether the mother of a missing Tempe child is competent to stand trial or should be transferred to a mental hospital has been pushed back as her attorney seeks new conditions for release.
Elizabeth Johnson’s trial remains on track for Oct. 5. A hearing on whether her release conditions set for Thursday was rescheduled for Aug. 25 with subsequent hearings set for Sept. 2.
Johnson, 25, has been held in Maricopa County’s Estrella jail on a $1.1 million cash bond since January 2010 after she was extradited to Arizona from Miami Beach, Fla., where she was arrested without her then-7-month-old son, Gabriel. In mid-December 2009, Johnson took Gabriel to San Antonio in the midst of a custody battle against her estranged boyfriend and Gabriel’s father, Logan McQueary of Gilbert. Johnson has both said she has killed Gabriel and gave him away to a couple she did not know in San Antonio.
Johnson is facing charges of kidnapping, custodial interference and conspiracy to commit custodial interference.
