Child porn defendant claims loss of memory

10-7-2006 Indiana:
.The federal prosecution of a Middletown man accused of taking lewd photographs of a young boy has been delayed by the defendant's claims that a beating he received at the hands of a fellow Henry County jail inmate has robbed him of his memory.

Dick L. Noel -- arrested when state police raided his home, at 9379 N. Henry County Road 800-W, in August 2005 -- was recently transferred to a federal prison system medical facility in Lexington, Ky., for a "mental, medical and neurological examination" to determine whether he is competent to stand trial on child pornography charges.

Public defenders for the 53-year-old Noel had in late August asked U.S. District Court Judge John Tinder to have their client examined "to determine whether he is suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering him mentally incompetent to the extent he is unable to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against him or to assist properly in his defense."

The attorneys said that Noel -- who originally faced state charges in Henry Superior Court 1 that were dismissed when the U.S. district attorney's office filed similar federal charges last November -- was "violently assaulted by another inmate" in the Henry County jail soon after his arrest "and sustained serious neurological and physical injuries." ..more.. : by DOUGLAS WALKER