It’s been almost nine years since police say a Layton mother barricaded a bedroom door and then strangled her two young children.
But Sun Cha Warhola’s case has been stalled nearly from the onset, after a judge determined that her mental illness rendered her not competent to face two counts of aggravated murder in court.
Since then, she’s been at the Utah State Hospital — and at one point, was civilly committed to the facility.
But now medical experts say she is competent, and the case against her will move forward.
It’s an unexpected turn in a case that languished for years and comes after a judge had put the trial on hold indefinitely last year after finding Warhola had surpassed the timeframe set by Utah law in which a defendant charged with aggravated murder must be restored to competency, released from custody or civilly committed.