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Baumhammers' competency to stand trial still in question
Saturday, May 13, 2000 By The Associated Press
The man accused of killing five people in a shooting rampage is deliberately holding back information from county psychiatrists trying to determine whether he is competent to stand trial, a prosecutor said yesterday.
Two psychiatrists ordered to provide an impartial analysis of his mental fitness believe Richard Baumhammers, 34, is incompetent to stand trial.
But in a hearing before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Lawrence O'Toole, who still must rule on Baumhammers' competency, Deputy District Attorney Ed Borkowski said Baumhammers has not talked enough about the case with the psychiatrists for them to know whether he is capable of helping his attorneys defend him.
"It's clear that Baumhammers is telling people what he wants to tell when he wants to tell them," Borkowski said.
William Difenderfer, Baumhammers' attorney, said Borkowski is not a psychiatrist and is in no position to diagnose his client.
"As far as I know, he's never met my client," Difenderfer said after the hearing. He declined to comment on whether Baumhammers has been cooperative with him and other attorneys so far.
Dr. Christine Martone said Tuesday that Baumhammers is a paranoid schizophrenic who was so detached in two interviews last week that she thought he could not help his lawyers in his own defense.
Another report described in court yesterday said another county psychiatrist, Dr. Sabato Stile, also found Baumhammers incompetent. Stile described Baumhammers as having a "psychotic thought disorder," but not as a paranoid schizophrenic.
O'Toole said he will not rule before Wednesday, when Borkowski will have a chance to question Stile about his report.
Police said Baumhammers, the son of Latvian immigrants, targeted ethnic and religious minorities in the April 28 shooting rampage in Allegheny and Beaver counties.
Those killed were a Jewish woman, a man from India, a Chinese man, a Vietnamese man and a black man. Baumhammers is also accused of injuring another Indian man.
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