OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - A former doctor accused of killing four people with ties to an Omaha medical school was found competent to stand trial Friday.
The competency hearing for Anthony Garcia, of Terre Haute, Indiana, was held in Douglas County District Court after he spent three months undergoing psychological evaluation at the Lincoln Regional Center. His attorneys asked for the evaluation in February after becoming concerned about his mental state.
On Friday, both reports from a state psychiatrist and a psychiatrist hired by Garcia’s attorneys said he was competent to stand trial, even though the defense psychiatrist said he believes Garcia has an underlying mental illness. Garcia’s attorneys did not elaborate on what type of mental illness they believe Garcia has and asked Judge Duane Dougherty to seal the reports regarding Garcia’s mental health.
Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine questioned the need to seal the documents, saying they’re part of the court record, which are normally public record.
But Robert Motta Sr., a Chicago attorney for Garcia, objected to the documents being made public in news reports.
“I think it’s prejudicial to the defendant,” Motta said.
The judge took the request under advisement.
Garcia, 40, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and various weapons counts. He is accused of fatally stabbing Thomas Hunter, the 11-year-old son of Creighton University pathologist William Hunter, and the family’s housekeeper, Shirlee Sherman, in 2008.
Those deaths remained a mystery for five years until police detectives investigating the May 2013 slayings of Creighton pathologist Roger Brumback and his wife, Mary, in their home connected all four deaths to the university’s pathology program and Garcia.
Authorities say Garcia was motivated by revenge. Roger Brumback and William Hunter had been instrumental in firing Garcia from Creighton’s pathology program in 2001. Both men subsequently sent letters to medical boards that prevented Garcia from becoming licensed in several states and from finishing other residency programs. Garcia had briefly held a temporary medical license in Indiana. He was also licensed in Illinois, where he was arrested last summer but lost that license in the days following his arrest.
Garcia has pleaded not guilty to the charges. On Friday, he waived his right to a speedy trial to give his lawyers more time to prepare a defense.
Garcia’s attorneys also objected Friday to some conditions under which Garcia is being held, particularly those that allow him only an hour or less a day out of his jail cell.
The judge replied that he couldn’t instruct jail officials on how to run the facility but said Garcia’s attorneys could file a motion objecting to his being held in isolation.
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