Hester found incompetent to stand trial on vehicular homicide, assault charges

A Franklin County woman will not stand trial on criminal charges from a September 2023 two-fatality motor vehicle accident that claimed the life of a young mother and her 11-year-old child, after Franklin County District Attorney Jeff Barksdale conceded she was not mentally competent to stand trial.

Pam Hester, 67, was indicted by a March 2024 Franklin County Grand Jury on two counts of Criminally Negligent Homicide and two counts of Assault Third Degree. Each of the charges is a Class A misdemeanor.

34-year-old Jennifer Fretwell and her son died in the September 27, 2023, accident when Hester, traveling north in the southbound lane of Highway 43 around 10:15 p.m., with no headlights on, hit Fretwell’s vehicle near the former Catfish Haven restaurant.

Two other teenagers in Fretwell’s vehicle, her son and a cousin, were injured and transported by ambulance from the scene. Both teens recovered from their injuries. The two assault charges resulted from the injuries to the teens.

Russellville attorney Jeff Bowling, who represents Hester, filed a motion asking Franklin County Circuit Judge Brian Hamilton to order a mental evaluation of Hester to determine her mental state at the time of the accident and whether she is competent to assist in her defense at trial.

Hester, who resides in a dementia care facility in the Shoals, was evaluated by a State of Alabama Mental Health examiner who found that ‘based on Hester’s cognitive impairment, it is improbable she could become competent with treatment within a reasonable period of time.’ 

The examiner determined Hester’s mental competency to be ‘unrestorable.’

After the evaluation, Barksdale’s office filed a motion asking the Court ‘to find Hester mentally ill and that her mental illness, diagnosed as dementia, poses a real and present threat of substantial harm to herself and/or others.’

The State of Alabama, along with Hester’s attorney, will submit to the Court a proposal for her continued mental health treatment that will likely remain in effect until her death due to the severe impairment of her cognitive ability as a result of extreme dementia.

The Code of Alabama, Sec. 13A-3-1, outlines a two-pronged determination to be made by the Court after a defendant’s mental state is raised as a defense.

First, at the time of the commission of the acts constituting the offense, whether the defendant, by reason of severe mental disease or defect, was unable to appreciate the nature and quality of his or her acts.

Secondly, a determination must be made whether the defendant, as a result of severe mental disease or defect, is unable to understand the nature of the charges against him or her and unable to assist in his or her defense.

The burden under Alabama law falls on the defendant to prove, by clear and convincing evidence, he or she has a severe mental disease or defect.

After losing two family members, Fretwell’s family has been frustrated about the legal process with Hester from the outset, including the fact she was only charged with misdemeanors resulting from the fatal accident.

They channeled that frustration into a movement to see legislation that revokes the driver’s license of anyone who is diagnosed with dementia. Additionally, they want to see mandatory reporting by family members and/or doctors to the Alabama Department of Public Safety in such cases.

They created a petition following the fatal accident and gathered more than 1,500n signatures to submit to legislators. The petition can be found on www.change.org and searching ‘mandatory reporting Alabama dementia law.’

Although Alabama does not have a law automatically revoking a person’s drivers license after a diagnosis of dementia, the Alabama Administrative Code states that drivers cannot have dementia that is unresponsive to treatment and must not have judgment impairment that interferes with safe driving. 

Additionally, a physician can report a driver with a condition like dementia, triggering a review of the driver’s medical information by the state. This can lead to license suspension or revocation.