10/17/12 Stutzman competency hearing to be rescheduled

  • By Nick Sabo
  • October 17, 2012
  • 336
                        
SUMMARY: Defense asks for evidence that Stutzman may be talking after allegedly suffering from mutism An Oct. 15 competency hearing for a Navarre man charged with murdering his adoptive parents will be rescheduled after his attorneys requested new medical records. The records request indicate that Rodney Stutzman, 33, 17559 Harrison Road, may be speaking again after allegedly going mute following the murder of Mervin and Viola Stutzman. Rodney Stutzman is charged with two counts of aggravated murder in their deaths, which occurred Jan. 9. He faces the death penalty if convicted. The records, requested by defense attorney David Doughten and public defender Bev Wire, are for names and video connected to incidents where Stutzman may have spoken while receiving psychological treatment at Twin Valley Behavioral Healthcare. Stutzman was ordered by Wayne County Common Pleas Judge Corey Spitler into the care of the Timothy B. Moritz Forensic Unit following a competency hearing Oct. 14, 2011. The Moritz Forensic Unit is part of Twin Valley Behavioral Healthcare. At the 2011 competency hearing, Spitler read from a report by forensic pathologist Dr. Galit Galit Askenazi that stated Stutzman suffered from various psychological disorders, including mutism, or the inability to speak. The records request asks for video of Stutzman that may show him speaking with others during the 2011 Ohio State vs. Michigan game. The request also asks for names of individuals, patients and employees, with whom Stutzman may have spoken. Askenazi’s 2011 assessment was that Stutzman was not competent to stand trial, but that he could be restored to competency within a year. Askenazi’s report was carried out at the request of Stutzman’s defense team. The Wayne County Prosecuting Attorney’s office agreed to Stutzman’s placement at the Moritz Forensic Unit. In the same records request, Doughten and Wire also asked for the percentage of inmates referred to Twin Vally Behavioral “found by that facility to be competent”. According to excerpts from Askenazi’s report, as read by Spitler in the 2011 hearing, Stutzman “presents as an individual suffering from true symptoms of psychosis” that have developed over “the last couple of years”. Askenazi suggests the psychosis originated some time after Stutzman joined the U.S. Army, as he was able to finish basic training but “received poor work reviews even on simple tasks years later”. Court records indicate Stutzman was in the army from 2006 to 2009. Stutzman was arrested in West Virginia Jan. 14, 2011, driving his adoptive parent’s car. In a video dated Jan. 14, Stutzman is shown speaking during an interview with police. Mervin and Viola Stutzman were found dead from shotgun wounds in their home by Wayne County Sheriff’s deputies. Mervin Stutzman had been decapitated. A new competency hearing has not been scheduled, according to court records.


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