Doctors Treating Md. Man Charged In Hatchet Death

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Maryland doctors are treating a Montgomery County man in hopes of making him mentally competent for a murder trial.

Claude A. Allen III, who was charged last May with killing a man with a hatchet outside his Gaithersburg home, was found not competent for trial two months ago. That means he's not able to help his attorney or understand the proceedings against him.

His lawyer, Steven Kupferberg, said Friday that doctors at Clifton T. Perkins Hospital are treating Allen with the goal of making him competent to stand trial. If he is restored to competency, he'll then be evaluated to determine whether he is not criminally responsible on account of a mental disorder.

Allen's father, also named Claude Allen, was a domestic policy adviser for George W. Bush.

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