Collin County case could force courts to rethink how to handle autism

COLLIN COUNTY (1080 KRLD)- A Collin County case could force the courts to rethink how to handle a defendant with autism.

It sounds simple enough. John Crumley was arrested for trying to meet a 13-year-old girl he had met online for sex. It was an undercover cop. But this case is more complicated.

Crumley has a form of autism that causes him to become locked in a belief, whether it's right or wrong. When Crumley was busted he told a story that he thought the person he was meeting was an online fraudster middle-age-woman, not a 13-year-old.

His brothers and a psychologist were ready to testify the story made perfect sense because Crumley had been set up before by a middle-age-woman and that woman even testified that she had done it. But the trial judge refused to allow the brothers or the expert to testify.

Now, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has sent the case back to an appeals panel to take another look at whether some of the testimony should be allowed.

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