A Clark County woman has been scheduled to go on trial in Arkadelphia the week of Oct. 16 for first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder in the death of one of her grandchildren and the injury of another.
Hilda Daves, 50, was charged in January 2016 with fatally poisoning her 5-year-old granddaughter and attempting to fatally poison her 6-year-old grandson, according to Clark County Circuit Court records.
She also was charged with first-degree battery in causing injury to her grandson.
A mental evaluation, filed Sept. 1 in Circuit Court, meant to gauge Daves' fitness to proceed to trial concluded that she attempted to deceive doctors into believing she was mentally unfit and lacked legal knowledge to allow her to assist her attorney in preparing for trial.
The evaluation, performed by State Hospital psychologist David Contreras, said Daves' intellectual functioning was borderline but ruled out intellectual disability and borderline personality disorder.
"In light of her response style and testing data, it is difficult to differentiate between what parts Ms. Daves' presentation can be attributed to her intellectual deficits and what can be attributed to her poor effort and attempts to feign," Contreras wrote.
The Clark County sheriff's office was called to Daves' home on Arkansas 84 east of Amity on Jan. 17, 2016, and found the granddaughter dead on a bed and the grandson still alive, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
Deputies found Daves on a couch with a gunshot wound in her chest.
According to the affidavit, Daves told investigators that she killed her granddaughter, that the boy might die if he did not receive medical attention and that she planned to commit suicide.
The boy told investigators that Daves made beverages for the children in a cup. Toxicology screening showed the boy had promethazine in his urine and the girl had promethazine and amiodarone in her blood, the affidavit said.
The affidavit said promethazine is an antihistamine used to treat allergy symptoms and nausea and is also a sedative. Amiodarone is an antiarrythmic drug used to keep the heart beating normally.
State Desk on 09/19/2017