by Kevin Lilly
Pharos-Tribune news editor
July 15, 2008 11:58 am
—
In court Monday, a judge granted a delay in the proceedings against a woman accused of trying to kill an attendant at the Logansport State Hospital.
Judge Garrett Palmer, sitting in for Cass Superior Court II Judge Rick Maughmer, accepted the request made by public defender Brad Rozzi on behalf of 64-year-old Julie Van Orden, who is facing a class A felony charge of attempted murder.
As in past hearings, Van Orden was not in court for the proceedings.
Van Orden is accused of stabbing attendant Ted Shriver in the arm, face and upper torso. Police said that during the August 2006 attack, Van Orden also bit the attendant hard enough to loosen her teeth. Shriver sustained numerous injuries, none of them life-threatening.
Rozzi is awaiting a second round of testing on his client’s ability to stand trial. Currently, Van Orden, who is already a convicted murderer, is deemed competent. According to court records, Rozzi disagrees.
Early in the case, Rozzi filed for a defense of mental disease or defect, which means Van Orden would not be held responsible for her actions based on “abnormal mental condition” that prevented her from appreciating the “wrongfulness of the conduct at the time of the offense.”
In October 2007, Van Orden underwent examinations by two psychiatrists and a psychologist. After hearing testimony from the doctors, the court ruled Van Orden did not have the ability to stand trial. Two months later, a report from the Logansport State Hospital indicated that after adjustments in her medications Van Orden regained enough competency to assist in her defense.
Rozzi responded by requesting more testing. He argues that Van Orden still suffers from the same mental illness.
After the results of that testing are in, another competency hearing will be held. In the meantime, the Van Orden case is scheduled for a final pre-trial conference on Sept. 22 followed by an Oct. 8 trial.
Van Orden spent several months in the Cass County Jail before being returned to the state hospital in March because she refused food and medication, according to court records.
At the time of the stabbing, Van Orden was reportedly within 30 days of being released. She had served 20 years of her 40-year prison sentence for the 1980 shooting death of Russell Lloyd Sr., who had recently left office as mayor of Evansville.
According to news reports from the Courier & Press in Evansville, Van Orden was in a dispute with city officials in a matter involving her home. She thought Lloyd was still the mayor and shot him four times at the front door of his home with his family inside.
In 2000, Van Orden became eligible for parole, but a judge ordered that she be committed to a mental hospital until she was safe to be released, according to the Courier & Press. She had been at Logansport State Hospital since March of that year.
The attempted murder charge put her back at the start of the judicial system.
Kevin Lilly can be reached at (574) 732-5117, or via e-mail at kevin.lilly@pharostribune.com
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