rockin'robin
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 22, 2007
- Messages
- 24,425
- Reaction score
- 551
Elderly woman accused of killing nephew also charged with murder in 1953
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -
A 97-year-old woman already declared incompetent to stand trial for murder in the shooting death of her 53-year-old nephew on Wednesday told a St. Johns judge she refused to return to jail.
"I'm not going back to jail," Amanda Stevenson said. "I'm telling you now, you'd have to shoot me first."
Stevenson is accused of shooting and killing her 53-year-old nephew John Rice with a .357 magnum handgun in September 2011. She was also accused of shooting and killing a man in 1953, but those charges were dropped five months later.
Shortly after her arrest, a mental competency evaluation found there was an "imminent risk that she would act in a violent matter towards others." There are also medical challenges to keeping a woman her age in jail.
In a jail jumpsuit and using a walker on Wednesday, Stevenson listened and mumbled as lawyers for both sides argued her fate.
Prosecutor Robert Mathis admitted to Judge Wendy Berger: "Neither of us know what to do."
"Quite frankly judge, and I’ll put this right out in front for you, the hospital, which is the receiving facility for the Baker Act here is not going to take her ... because they know if they ever get her there, they’ll never get rid of her, and they’ll have to pay for it, for the rest of her life," Mathis said.
Stevenson's attorney agreed with the state that she also needs to be evaluated for dementia before a final decision can be made on where she should be sent. The judge assigned two more doctors to the case.
"This defendant has no place to go," Mathis said. "No nursing home is going to take her with her history, and we really have to have some issue with her."
97-year-old St. Johns County murder suspect in legal limbo | News - Home
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -
A 97-year-old woman already declared incompetent to stand trial for murder in the shooting death of her 53-year-old nephew on Wednesday told a St. Johns judge she refused to return to jail.
"I'm not going back to jail," Amanda Stevenson said. "I'm telling you now, you'd have to shoot me first."
Stevenson is accused of shooting and killing her 53-year-old nephew John Rice with a .357 magnum handgun in September 2011. She was also accused of shooting and killing a man in 1953, but those charges were dropped five months later.
Shortly after her arrest, a mental competency evaluation found there was an "imminent risk that she would act in a violent matter towards others." There are also medical challenges to keeping a woman her age in jail.
In a jail jumpsuit and using a walker on Wednesday, Stevenson listened and mumbled as lawyers for both sides argued her fate.
Prosecutor Robert Mathis admitted to Judge Wendy Berger: "Neither of us know what to do."
"Quite frankly judge, and I’ll put this right out in front for you, the hospital, which is the receiving facility for the Baker Act here is not going to take her ... because they know if they ever get her there, they’ll never get rid of her, and they’ll have to pay for it, for the rest of her life," Mathis said.
Stevenson's attorney agreed with the state that she also needs to be evaluated for dementia before a final decision can be made on where she should be sent. The judge assigned two more doctors to the case.
"This defendant has no place to go," Mathis said. "No nursing home is going to take her with her history, and we really have to have some issue with her."
97-year-old St. Johns County murder suspect in legal limbo | News - Home
