Court to decide if Amanda Bynes fit to stand trial in DUI charge

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Amanda Bynes, accompanied by attorney Gerald Shargel, arrives for a court appearance in New York in 2013 on allegations that she chucked a marijuana bong out the window of her 36th-floor Manhattan apartment. (Bethan McKernan / Associated Press)

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Amanda Bynes from the kid’s TV show “All That.” (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

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Then-13-year-old TV star Amanda Bynes, sitting with her dog Betty, and her family, and her character “Judge Trudy” on Nickelodeon. From left: Mother Lynn, father Rick, grandmother Ann Organ, brother Tommy and sister Jillian. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

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Actress Amanda Bynes attends the premiere of “What a Girl Wants” at the Arclight Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, California. (Robert Mora / Getty Images)

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Amanda Bynes is photographed on the red carpet at the world premiere of “The Matrix Revolutions” at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. (Robert Lachman / Los Angeles Times)

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Actress Amanda Bynes waves to the cameras as her walks on the red carpet of the 2007 MTV Movie Awards at the Gibson Amphitheater in Universal Studios. (Stephen Osman / Los Angeles Times)

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Amanda Bynes arrives at the MTV Movie Awards, in Los Angeles. (Chris Pizzello / Associated Press)

By a Times Staff Writer

Sept. 25, 2013 9:43 AM PT

A mental health court will now decide whether former teen star Amanda Bynes is fit to stand trial on a drunk driving charge brought in 2012.

Bynes has been under court-ordered psychiatric care after she allegedly started a small fire in front of a Thousand Oaks home in July.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Edward Moreton on Tuesday referred the case to the court’s mental health division, where a judge will decide if Bynes is fit for trial, the court said.

Her drunk driving case stems from an April 2012 incident in which she was charged with driving under the influence in West Hollywood. She was arrested on suspicion of DUI after she allegedly clipped a sheriff’s deputy’s cruiser while trying to pass it around 3 a.m. near Robertson and Santa Monica boulevards.

Police said Bynes refused to take a sobriety test.

She pleaded not guilty last year to the driving under the influence charge. Her next court date is scheduled for Jan 7.

She is already on probation in California for driving on a suspended license, and faces charges in New York for marijuana possession and throwing a glass bong out of her 36th-floor Manhattan apartment.

Bynes, who starred in her own sketch comedy TV series “The Amanda Show” at age 13, has become as famous for her erratic behavior, brushes with the law and odd postings on Twitter as she has been for acting.

Last month her mother, Lynn Bynes, was granted temporary control of her legal and financial affairs while she undergoes psychiatric treatment.

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