The competency status of a woman accused of arson in Miller County was discussed at a pretrial hearing Tuesday.
Tashundria Moniek Miller, 27, is accused of setting fire to a former girlfriend's porch in May 2016. In February, a mental evaluation was ordered at the request of the Miller County Public Defender's office to determine if Miller is competent to proceed through the court process.
At a hearing Tuesday morning before Circuit Judge Kirk Johnson, the issue was addressed for a second time. Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Chuck Black said Miller had been found unable to assist her lawyer in her defense, a requirement for a finding of competent to proceed.
But Black said Miller, who has been free on bond, has not provided the court with documentation that she has been receiving mental health services and that the Miller County agency which performed the initial evaluation, Southwest Arkansas Counseling and Mental Health Center, has not seen Miller since that contact.
Managing Public Defender Jason Mitchell said the mental health center told Miller at the time that she would need to seek services in Texas, her state of residency. Mitchell said Miller has been receiving services in Texas and can provide documentation of such at her next pretrial hearing later this month.
"We'll reset this case for Oct. 31 to see where we are," Johnson said as the hearing ended.
Miller is accused of starting a fire May 21, 2016, at a house her former girlfriend was renting in the 1500 block of Prospect Street in Texarkana, Ark., according to a probable cause affidavit used to create the following account. When police and firefighters responded to the house fire at about 11 p.m., the home's occupants expressed a belief Miller could be to blame. The fire appeared to have started on the porch and extended into the attic. When emergency personnel arrived, flames could be seen rising 10 feet.
Miller's former girlfriend told investigators she and Miller had been involved for about two years. The former girlfriend reported that Miller had been following her earlier that day and that the two had pulled over and argued in the parking lot of the Holiday Bowl on State Line Avenue in Texarkana, Ark.
The former girlfriend reported that when she arrived home, she found the front of the residence ablaze. Several days later investigators received an anonymous tip that Miller had purchased the gasoline used to start the fire at Stop N Shop on East Ninth Street in Texarkana, Ark.
Video and audio surveillance footage from the store allegedly confirms the information. Miller can allegedly be seen purchasing $1.25 worth of gas about 15 minutes before the first 911 call reporting the flames was received by dispatchers. Audio recorded during the transaction allegedly captured Miller's voice saying that she, "is fixing to burn this house down."
Investigators attempted May 23, 2016, to contact Miller through her employment at a local hotel. Miller's supervisor allegedly told detectives Miller had called in sick because of burn injuries and showed the officers cellphone pictures Miller allegedly sent her boss of the wounds.
Miller is free on a $50,000 bond.