Deadline Approaching for Mortimer's Mental Health Defense

Thomas Mortimer IV, who was due back at

Mortimer of his mother-in-law, Ellen Ragna Stone, 64; his wife, Laura Stone Mortimer, 41; his daughter, Charlotte Mortimer, 2; and his son, Thomas “Finn” Mortimer V, 4.

According to the Middlesex District Attorney’s office, Mortimer’s attorney – Denise Regan – has until Jan. 20 to file a notice of mental health. By that date, Regan will have to decide whether or not to use mental health as a defense.

According to the Boston Globe, Regan stated in a June 2010 hearing that mental health would be an issue in this case.

“It’s likely that mental health will be a live issue in this case,” Regan said at the time.

Regan had filed a .

Regan had argued that

“The Commonwealth failed to establish that the firefighters made reasonable entry into the home under the emergency care exception,” Regan said at the hearing.

According to Regan, the emergency personnel should have based their entry into the home on what they knew, and not what was told to them by Debra Stone Sochat. Stone Sochat took the stand in September and testified that she went to the home because she was concerned about the health of her mother – Ellen Ragna Stone.

But according to Assistant District Attorney, Adrienne Lynch, based on Stone Sochat’s concern for her mother, the firefighters had every right to enter the home without a warrant.

“It would contradict the response of an emergency if they were to do a full investigation before entering the home,” Lynch told Judge Kern.

While a final decision on the evidence will be made Friday, Kern told Regan and Lynch at the hearing that she is favoring the prosecution’s argument.

“It’s clear, in this case, that the purpose in entering the home was not to gather evidence for a criminal activity,” Kern said.

According to the DA’s office, Mortimer is due back in court on Feb. 3 at 10 a.m. for a motions hearing.