Amanda Bynes Mental Health News Update 2013: ‘Easy A’ Star Deemed Mentally Fit to Stand Trial [VIDEO]
A California Judge has ruled that troubled actress Amanda Bynes is mentally competent to stand trial for a DUI case from 2012.
The 27-year-old actress, who has been out of the spotlight since being placed under involuntary psychiatric hold four months ago, was deemed by Judge James Bianco that she can answer to the charges against her, according to CNN.
Bynes had worried several fans, friends and family members with increasingly frantic behaviors and troublesome tweets for nearly a year before being detained for a mental health evaluation in July after she set a small fire in a neighbor's driveway in Thousand Oaks, Calif. She was soon after held in a psychiatric facility.
She was moved from UCLA Medical Center in September to a private facility to receive specialized treatment for schizophrenia.
After she completes her stint at the facility, which could be as early as next month, Bynes will begin facing the judge for her numerous legal troubles outside of the DUI incident from April 2012. She is also facing three misdemeanor charges related to an incident where she allegedly tossed a bong from her Manhattan apartment window in May 2013.
Now that she has been declared competent to stand trial, Bynes will appear in court for a progress report on Jan. 7.
Her parents, who were granted temporary conservatorship over their daughter after she was placed in the psychiatric hold, have said that they believe Bynes will work through her issues and soon return to being the sweetheart actress and comedian that helped make her famous.
"We appreciate everyone's heartfelt support, and we hope that she can get some privacy and the respect she deserves during this time," her mother, Lynn Bynes said in a statement to People Magazine in October.
