Mark Castillo, who is trying to plead guilty to drowning his three children, will be transferred from the Baltimore City jail to the state’s secure psychiatric hospital, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Baltimore City Circuit Judge Gale Rasin granted a 30-day extension to the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to have Castillo, 41, of Rockville, evaluated at Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center in Jessup.
Castillo has been pleading with Rasin to allow him to fire his attorney and enter a guilty plea in the slayings of his sons Anthony, 6, and Austin, 4, and daughter, Athena, 2, who were drowned at Baltimore’s Marriott Inner Harbor Hotel in March.
Rasin said she wants to make sure Castillo is competent to stand trial and, also, whether he is competent to represent himself — in order to avoid post-conviction motions attempting to strike his conviction years from now.
“I know you think you know what you want to do … but you’re facing life without parole,” Rasin told him.
On Aug. 22, Castillo said in a court hearing that he had been trying to plead guilty since he killed his children.
“I’ve been trying to plead guilty for the last five months and I’ve been prevented,” he said.
On Wednesday Rasin ordered another hearing for Sept. 29.
Baltimore police say Castillo told officers he killed his children on March 30 because of a “recent divorce stemming from domestic issues with his wife.”
Castillo took 100 Motrin pills and tried to slit his own throat after drowning his children, charging documents state.
