Assault Charges Against a St. Cloud Woman Dropped After Being Found Incompetent to Stand Trial

(KNSI) — Assault charges filed against a 50-year-old St. Cloud woman have been dropped after she was found incompetent to stand trial.

According to the criminal complaint, police responded to a home on the 1100 block of 13th Street South on September 29th, 2021, after a 911 caller said their neighbor, identified as Jodi Behrman, hit his wife upside the head with a metal pole. Police spoke to the woman, who said Behrman had repeatedly come onto their property and meddled with their cars. She and her husband told investigators Behrman had become increasingly aggressive when they asked her to leave, and when she physically tried to remove Behrman from their property, Behrman grabbed a metal pole and, holding it like a baseball bat, swung it at her head. A video recording of the assault was turned over to the police, and according to the criminal complaint, “an audible clang is heard” when the woman was hit.

Court papers show Behrman underwent competency evaluations no fewer than four times and was deemed incompetent after each one. Papers filed in Stearns County say that with her condition, “it is no longer in the interests of justice to continue with prosecution.”

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