Troubled actress Amanda Bynes did not appear in court Tuesday for her 2012 DUI arrest because, as her lawyer claims, she is "mentally unfit to stand trial."
TMZ exclusively reports that Bynes' lawyer "told the judge Amanda did not have the mental capacity to understand the nature of the legal proceedings," and he had the matter transferred to the mental health court.
Bynes has been under psychiatric care since July, when she set fire in a residential driveway after months of erratic and inexplicable behavior. The 27-year-old was first detained for 72 hours, which were then extended to two weeks and subsequently to a 30-day stay. Last month, a judge granted Bynes' doctors' request that she be held in the hospital long term.
While she remains under psychiatric care, Amanda's mother Lynn has partial conservatorship over her which grants her the ability to control decisions involving her health and finances. The conservatorship is scheduled to be up Sept. 30.
The DUI case in question refers to Bynes' arrest in April 2012 when she reportedly sideswept a cop car in West Hollywood. She was charged with one count of misdemeanor DUI to which she pled "not guilty."
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