[Video begins at 00:30] On December 20, 2011 Antoine Lee Bynum killed his longtime girlfriend, Remmi Goyens. He claimed that his girlfriend had "put a voodoo trick" on him, and that the trick had resulted in voices in his head telling him that he could have been an NBA star or an NFL player. In August 2016 after multiple incompetency determinations Bynum was declared competent and his case finally went to trial. A jury found Bynum guilty of second-degree murder and Bynum was sentenced to life in prison. Interestingly, Bynum's judgment and sentence were appealed, and on May 11, 2018 the Fifth District Court of Appeals remanded his case for further proceedings. The defense had argued that the trial court committed fundamental error when it failed to “make an independent determination of [Bynum's] competency.” The court of appeals agreed and reversed - but only for a retroactive competency hearing. (On all other matters the court of appeals affirmed.) That competency hearing was held in Florida on August 3, 2018. The court retroactively found that Bynum was competent to proceed and issued an order to that effect, thus rectifying its previous error. Bynum is serving a life sentence. The full police interview with Bynum will be posted tomorrow morning. For those interested, the details on appeal: On April 26, 2015, the day before trial was initially scheduled, Bynum's counsel filed a notice of incompetency. As a result, the trial court held a competency hearing, and after considering the reports of two court-appointed experts, found Bynum incompetent to proceed and committed him to the Department of Children and Families (DCF) for treatment at a state hospital in accordance with Florida criminal law. On August 31, 2015, mental health professionals at the North Florida Evaluation and Treatment Center filed a report representing that Bynum's competency had been restored, and at the request of Bynum's attorney the trial court once again appointed an expert to evaluate Bynum. The trial court then held a competency hearing on October 22, 2015. However, no evidence was received at the hearing. Rather, Bynum's attorney conveyed to both the State and the trial court that the expert had found Appellant competent to proceed. Even though it had not yet reviewed the expert's report, the court found Bynum competent to proceed “based on the accord of [the expert], and based on the stipulations of the State and Defense.” The case then proceeded to trial on August 8, 2016, where Bynum admitted that he killed Goyens but raised an insanity defense. The jury convicted Appellant of the lesser-included offense of second-degree murder. The court of appeals held that the trial court had committed fundamental error when it found Bynum competent to proceed based upon stipulation of parties and expert's report which court had not reviewed, rather than making its own independent determination regarding Bynum's competency. Essentially, the court must always make an independent determination as to a defendant's competency to proceed; accepting a stipulation of the parties as to competency is not permitted. ~~~ @realworldpolice /r/realworldpolice Patreon @ rwp.yt/join

Florida Police RWP Bynum Goyens confession interview