🚨 ELIZABETH SIDERS FACES 23 CHARGES — NOW HER ATTORNEY IS FOCUSING ON ONE DEEPLY PERSONAL DETAIL

Elizabeth Siders is facing 23 criminal charges.

But as the case moves forward, her attorney is asking the court to look beyond the charges themselves — and examine whether she is currently capable of fully understanding what she is facing.

Siders, the mother of 16 children found inside a Vinton County, Ohio, home in June, pleaded not guilty on September 16.

She faces 19 counts of child endangerment in one indictment.

She also faces two counts of sexual battery and two counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor in a separate case involving an alleged teenage relative in her care.

Her attorney, Thomas Stolly, says the defense is still waiting for the results of a competency evaluation.

And his argument centers on a remarkable history.

Stolly told reporters that Siders was married at 15 and had been pregnant for much of the past two decades.

He also said she had never experienced a normal postpartum period and had not received what he described as appropriate medical care for someone who had given birth so many times.

The attorney questioned what effect that history may have had on her mental state and ability to understand the legal proceedings.

He also pointed to the fact that Siders had spent most of her life within the isolated environment of the Siders household, with little exposure to life outside the family.

But there is an important distinction.

The defense has not established that trauma, pregnancy or lack of medical care caused Siders to be incompetent.

That is precisely what the court-ordered evaluation is intended to examine.

The evaluation can help determine whether she understands the nature of the charges and whether she is capable of assisting her attorney in her defense. A separate question involves whether she could potentially pursue a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.

Meanwhile, the allegations against Siders remain extraordinarily serious.

Authorities say 16 children were found in the family’s Hamden home on June 30.

The children ranged from infancy to 18 years old, and investigators described conditions inside the property as unsafe and severely neglectful.

Prosecutors later brought the child-endangerment charges, while a separate investigation resulted in the sexual-battery and unlawful-sexual-conduct charges against Siders and her husband.

Siders has pleaded not guilty.

She is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

And now, before the case can fully move forward, another question has taken center stage:

Does Elizabeth Siders understand the case against her well enough to stand trial?

Her attorney says there are serious reasons to question that.

The court is waiting for the evaluation.

And whatever it finds could have a major effect on what happens next.