The El Paso County stepmother accused in the slaying of 11-year-old Gannon Stauch is due in court Tuesday for a hearing that could determine if she is mentally fit for trial.

Letecia Stauch, 37, is set to appear at 9 a.m. before 4th Judicial District Judge Gregory Werner. The judge is expected to reveal the results of her second competency evaluation, performed by a defense expert after state psychiatrists found in an earlier evaluation that she was mentally fit to be prosecuted.

If the latest evaluation reaches the same conclusion, Werner could declare Stauch competent, putting her case back on track after a six-month pause over mental health concerns.

If not, the judge could schedule a competency hearing, at which attorneys will put on witnesses and present any additional evidence while debating her mental fitness. Court records show that Dr. Jackie Grimmett, a psychiatrist retain by the defense, submitted her report to the court Jan. 2.

Stauch’s prosecution has been on hold since June, when her attorneys initially raised concerns about her mental competency amid reports that Stauch had tried to escape the jail.

Under Colorado law, competency refers to a defendant’s current mental state, not whether they were sane at the time of an alleged crime. To find Stauch competent, the judge must determine that she has a rational understanding of the charges against her and can effectively assist in her defense.

If Stauch is ruled incompetent, she can be held for indefinite treatment — up to the rest of her life. If she were restored to competency through treatment, the case against her would resume.

Stauch is charged with first-degree murder and other counts on allegations that she killed Gannon at their Lorson Ranch home before dumping his body in a rural area near Highway 105 and South Perry Park Road in Douglas County.

She reported the boy missing on Jan. 27, telling authorities that he failed to come home after visiting a friend.

A widely publicized search for Gannon gradually turned up evidence of foul play, authorities allege, indicating that the boy was in bed when he was attacked with a knife or other weapon . Stauch, who had publicly denied involvement in the boy’s disappearance, was arrested March 2 in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Gannon’s remains were ultimately found March 18 in Santa Rosa County on the Florida panhandle, east of Pensacola. How the remains made it from Douglas County to Florida is among the unanswered questions in the case.

In June, prosecutors filed a new felony against Letecia Stauch — solicitation of escape — accusing her offering a fellow inmate up to $75,000 to help her escape from the El Paso County jail.

Two months later, Stauch sent a 4-page handwritten letter to Werner claiming she’d been abused while in custody, and further alleging that people at the jail had threatened to poison her food.

The effort to gauge her competency has been delayed by logistical challenges related to the coronavirus pandemic.

She remains held without bail at the jail, records show.