4/25/13 Judge rules Stutzman not competent to stand trial for murder

  • By Nick Sabo
  • April 25, 2013
  • 372
                        
SUMMARY: Hearing to retain custody of Stutzman scheduled for May 10 A Wayne County Common Pleas Judge ruled that murder suspect Rodney Stutzman is not competent to stand trial. Common Pleas Judge Corey Spitler ruled Monday April 22 that Stutzman, 33, 17559 Harrison Road, is unable to assist in his own defense due to mental issues. Stutzman is charged with murdering his adoptive parents, Mervin and Viola Stutzman, in 2011. Spitler’s decsion comes after a Jan. 25, 2013 competency hearing in which conflicting reports of Stutzman’s mental health were presented by two doctors. Stutzman was found to be not competent to assist in his defense in October, 2011, by Dr. Galit Askenazi. Askenazi later completed a second evaluation of Stutzman about a month prior to the 2013 competency hearing. Askenazi said Stutzman was suffering from schizophrenia, a condition he is genetically susceptible to due to his biological mother’s having chronic schizophrenia. Askenazi testified in the Jan. 25 hearing that Stutzman began exhibiting symptoms while serving in the U.S. Army in Korea. Stutzman’s mental condition has continued to deteriorate from the time of the first assessment to that made prior to the competency hearing, Askenazi said. Stutzman is unable to contribute to his defense because he has stopped talking, according to Askenazi. Stutzman stopped talking because of a paranoid delusion that he is being monitored by a shadow agency he labels The Network, according to testimony at the Jan. 25 hearing. After Askenazi’s initial diagnosis, Stutzman was ordered to the Timothy Moritz Forensic Unit to be restored to competency. While there, he was under the care of forensic psychiartrist Delaney Smith. Smith testified at the competency hearing that Stutzman, upon arrival, did not behave as other paranoid schizophrenics. While most schizophrenics are fearful and reclusive, Stutzman took quickly to the unit and learned how the unit functioned. Stutzman was heard talking by several faculty and other inmates. Eventually, Smith’s diagnosis was that Stutzman was faking his symptoms. Stutzman was discharged from the unit in May, 2012, and transferred to the custody of the Wayne County Sheriff. In making his ruling, Spitler writes that Askenazi’s testimony is more credible than that of Smith’s because Askenazi has performed the most recent assessment of Stutzman. Askenazi’s speciality is in malingering, or the faking of symptoms, Spitler writes, and her findings were that Stutzman is not malingering. Spitler writes that Stutzman’s genetic susceptibility to schizophrenia, and the history of Stutzman showing symptoms of mental illness over a long period of time, is further a factor in the not competent ruling, Spitler writes. A hearing to retain jurisdiction over Stutzman is scheduled for May 10.


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