US4 min(s) read
Published 15:48 09 Jul 2026 GMT
The attorney for the grandfather arrested after 16 children were found in an Ohio home has filed a motion that could change the entire case.
Gary Siders Sr. is one of four relatives charged after police found the kids, ranging in age from one to 18, confined to a single 12-foot-by-12-foot room surrounded by human waste inside a home in Hamden, Ohio.
The 73-year-old grandfather's attorney, Dorian Baum, has claimed his client had difficulty understanding what the judge was saying.
He also said Siders could not grasp the legal process or explain the roles of the people in the courtroom, including his own lawyers, and was unable to answer basic questions about himself or maintain a clear train of thought.
The document further argues that he may be suffering from "significant mental health issues" that prevent him from assisting in his own defense.
His legal team also contends that his mental state may have prevented him from understanding the wrongfulness of his alleged actions or "appreciating the consequences of his conduct" at the time of the alleged offenses, prompting the request for an insanity evaluation.
The latest filing comes after Baum publicly questioned his client's mental condition following an earlier court appearance.
"Just by looking at him, my first impression is, I have concerns about his competence. I have concerns about his mental health. I have concerns about his ability to assist in his own defense. These are all things that are bedrock, bedrock conditions you need to move forward in any case," he said.
"So my first initial talking with him essentially is going to be, you know, is this a person who we need to evaluate for whether or not he's competent to stand trial? Is this a person who is potentially not guilty by reason of insanity or any of the other possible defenses?" he added.
Siders was previously released from jail on a recognizance bond after suffering what prosecutors described as a medical emergency while being transported to a preliminary hearing.
Vinton County Prosecutor William Archer said Siders "fell and had a medical issue that required treatment and assessment."
Doctors later determined he had a "serious medical condition" requiring treatment outside the county.
"We were not going to put that burden on our taxpayers, and so it was agreed that we would do a recognizance bond so he could get the medical treatment that the doctors say he needs and won't cost the county that money," Archer said.
"If he's released from then, he will then be equipped with a GPS monitor."
Authorities discovered the children while executing a search warrant connected to an unrelated criminal investigation.
Investigators have alleged the kids had spent at least four years being "kept in worse conditions than livestock."
Two of the children were airlifted to specialist trauma centers because of the severity of their injuries, while another seven were taken to hospitals in Columbus. One child was admitted to intensive care and intubated.
Law enforcement has described the investigation as an "intrafamily case," indicating that some of the children may have been born through sexual relationships between relatives.
It has also emerged that the children's mother, Elizabeth Siders, married Gary Siders Jr. in 2008 when she was just 15 years old and seven months pregnant.
Mason County records show her parents, Brian Ray Russell and Lori Ann Raines, consented to the marriage.
Siders Sr., Siders Jr., Elizabeth, and grandmother Christina Siders have each been charged with 16 counts of child endangerment and have pleaded not guilty.
A judge has ordered that the four defendants have no contact with one another or with any of the children while the case proceeds.
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