Child murder suspect jailed for 6 weeks without mental evaluation

<p>A Carroll County judge was to consider Wednesday whether a 19-year-old charged in the death of his 8-year-old neighbor is eligible for bond based on the outcome of a mental evaluation.</p><p>But six weeks after Chris Gossett was charged with the death of Amy Yates, the teen still has not been evaluated _ a delay that is preventing the case from moving forward, Coweta Judicial Circuit District Attorney Pete Skandalakis said Tuesday.</p><p>As a result, Skandalakis wants Gossett to remain in jail until an evaluation can be performed.</p><p>"He has yet to be evaluated, so our position remains the same," he said. "We would like him to be evaluated before the court considers a bond."</p><p>Gossett was indicted Nov. 3 for involuntary manslaughter. Yates disappeared in April 2004 while riding her bike to a friend's home, and her body was found hours later in a gully.</p><p>Gossett claimed responsibility for her death last year. His admission led authorities to free a 15-year-old boy who had previously admitted to the crime. The younger boy spent nearly two years in a juvenile facility for Yates' murder.</p><p>The district attorney's office requested the evaluation.</p><p>"We were expecting him to be evaluated on Dec. 20, and for some reason, there was a mix-up and no one showed up to evaluate him," Skandalakis said. "Now we're told he will be evaluated this week."</p><p>A doctor from West Central Georgia Hospital in Columbus will conduct the evaluation at the Carroll County Jail, Skandalakis said.</p><p>Gossett's attorney, Allen Trapp of Carrollton, was not immediately available for comment on Tuesday.</p><p>Skandalakis said the confusion was just another chapter in the unusual case, but said he wished the evaluation had happened already.</p><p>"I very much believe an evaluation is going to be critical to how this case proceeds, and so it's something that we need to have done," he said. "Both parties need to be able to examine the results of this evaluation in order to determine the best way to proceed."</p>