Rape Suspect Not Fit For Hearing Yesterday

A county judge postponed a hearing for the person charged with raping a Harvard employee at the Science Center last December after the judge determined that the defendant was not in the proper mental state to appear in court.

After concluding that 22-year-old Kerry Perkins was not fit to be placed in the "general inmate population," Middlesex County Superior Court Judge John P. Sullivan ordered police to return Perkins to Bridgewater State Hospital for 30 days.

But because county officials were having problems with Perkins, he was taken instead to Cambridge City Hospital for immediate treatment, according to Assistant District Attorney Adrienne Lynch.

A spokesperson for the hospital said Perkins was listed in fair condition last night.

Defense Attorney Milly A. Whatley declined comment, saying only that she had communicated with her client.

A warrant for Perkins arrest was issued after a computer system matched fingerprints found at the Science Center to a record of his fingerprints on file with state police.

Perkins was arrested in a San Francisco street fight January 8 and extradited to Massachusetts after local police learned of the outstanding warrant.

At the time of his arrest, Perkins was described as suicidal. Police also said he had been a patient in a Boston mental health facility.

The court has twice ordered that Perkins be sent to Bridgewater for psychiatric observation to determine if he is fit to stand trial.

Sullivan scheduled another hearing to discuss Perkins condition for April 18.