Trial for homicide of 5-year-old Prince McCree set in June as court awaits competency exam results

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- The jury trial for the murder of five-year-old Prince McCree — the Milwaukee boy found beaten to death and stuffed inside of a dumpster in October 2023 — will now start this summer.

The courts paused the legal proceedings for then 15-year-old Erik Mendoza — one of the two people charged in McCree’s death — as they waited for the results of a doctor’s report after he pled not guilty by mental disease.

Those results were supposed to be revealed during a court hearing on Friday, Feb. 21, however, that's since been delayed for another couple of months.

"It appears that the doctor that was supposed to be doing the NGI analysis has not done so, or at least there has not been a report generated," said Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Michelle Havas, before confirming the assignment of a new doctor to complete the mental evaluation.

The teen is facing several felony charges, including first-degree intentional homicide as a party to a crime, physical abuse of a child, and hiding a corpse, after authorities say Mendoza played an active role in causing the young boy's death while he was reported missing from home.

The tragic story captured national attention and even led to the PRINCE Act, a state law signed in April 2024 by Governor Tony Evers, that allows emergency alerts for missing children who don't meet Amber Alert's stricter criteria.

When the act was created, McCree's parents told reporters they hoped this would help every child and not let any more slip through the cracks.

Now the jury trial is set to begin on June 16.

When it does, Mendoza will be tried as an adult, after his attorney withdrew their request to be waived into juvenile court.

David Pietura, 27, the other person charged in McCree’s death, was sentenced to life in prison without parole last July.