Post by SoulTrainOz on Jun 18, 2006 4:22:13 GMT -5
By Eric Mayes, The Daily Item
SUNBURY - The former Berks County police chief charged with slaying his ex-wife last summer in Shamokin is competent to stand trial, a Northumberland County judge ruled Friday.
Richard C. Curran, of Shamokin, was deemed competent by President Judge Robert B. Sacavage.
The ruling came after Mr. Curran was examined by Dr. Mangala Khadilker on May 18 and June 14 and by Dr. John Hume on June 4 at the Norristown State Hospital. He had previously been ruled incompetent to stand trial.
Judge Sacavage also ordered that Mr. Curran be returned to the
Northumberland County Prison from the hospital, where he has been for several months.
He is charged with gunning down Tina S. Curran, 31, of Mount Carmel, on Aug. 24, 2005, near the loading dock of the Shamokin Area Community Hospital, where she worked as a licensed practical nurse. She died later that day at Geisinger Medical Center, Danville.
Mr. Curran fled but was arrested that day near Niagara Falls. He was trying to cross the border into Canada.
In April, his attorney asked the county to pay for three expert witnesses during a trial. Attorney Karl Rominger said that because his client was broke and facing the death penalty, the county should provide funds for a psychiatric mitigator, a private investigator and a forensic pathologist. All three are necessary, he said, to make sure his client has a fair trial.
The psychiatric mitigator would testify to Mr. Curran's mental state and abilities, the investigator would be used to conduct follow-up interviews with witnesses and the pathologist would testify as to wounds suffered by Ms. Curran.
Source : The Daily Item
www.dailyitem.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060617/NEWS/606170304/
-1/NEWS
SUNBURY - The former Berks County police chief charged with slaying his ex-wife last summer in Shamokin is competent to stand trial, a Northumberland County judge ruled Friday.
Richard C. Curran, of Shamokin, was deemed competent by President Judge Robert B. Sacavage.
The ruling came after Mr. Curran was examined by Dr. Mangala Khadilker on May 18 and June 14 and by Dr. John Hume on June 4 at the Norristown State Hospital. He had previously been ruled incompetent to stand trial.
Judge Sacavage also ordered that Mr. Curran be returned to the
Northumberland County Prison from the hospital, where he has been for several months.
He is charged with gunning down Tina S. Curran, 31, of Mount Carmel, on Aug. 24, 2005, near the loading dock of the Shamokin Area Community Hospital, where she worked as a licensed practical nurse. She died later that day at Geisinger Medical Center, Danville.
Mr. Curran fled but was arrested that day near Niagara Falls. He was trying to cross the border into Canada.
In April, his attorney asked the county to pay for three expert witnesses during a trial. Attorney Karl Rominger said that because his client was broke and facing the death penalty, the county should provide funds for a psychiatric mitigator, a private investigator and a forensic pathologist. All three are necessary, he said, to make sure his client has a fair trial.
The psychiatric mitigator would testify to Mr. Curran's mental state and abilities, the investigator would be used to conduct follow-up interviews with witnesses and the pathologist would testify as to wounds suffered by Ms. Curran.
Source : The Daily Item
www.dailyitem.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060617/NEWS/606170304/
-1/NEWS