Husband seeks insanity defense
A Mon Valley man who has been jailed for two years as a suspect in his wife’s murder is seeking an insanity defense in Washington County Court based on two evaluations under which he was diagnosed with psychiatric illnesses.
Washington County Judge John F. DiSalle was prepared to hold a hearing Wednesday on a defense motion to determine if the suspect, Ronald George Powell, 72, is competent to stand trial in the March 29, 2013, homicide, court records show.
DiSalle, however, postponed the hearing for 60 days in order for the defense and prosecution to have a plan in place on how to treat Powell in the event he rules in favor of the motion to dismiss the case, said Glenn Alterio, the suspect’s public defender.
Powell was arrested the morning of the homicide after he telephoned Washington County 911 to say that he had killed his wife, Leslie, 60, in their home at 1566 Walters St. in Carroll Township.
State police accused him of shooting his wife of 20 years once in the head with a shotgun he stored loaded under their bed while shining a flashlight at her while she was sleeping on her side in their bedroom. Police said Powell took a shower and made himself coffee before reporting the crime at 4:15 a.m.
He was evaluated in December 2013 for the defense by Dr. Michael Crabtree, a psychology professor at Washington & Jefferson College. Crabtree later diagnosed him as having a severe, lifelong delusional disorder with psychotic features and an unspecified anxiety disorder, court records show.
Powell was “laboring under such a defect of reason, from disease of the mind, as to not know what he was doing was wrong.”
Crabtree further reported that Powell is competent to stand trial even though he meets the legal standard of insanity.
The physician who evaluated Powell for the prosecution, Bruce Wright, reached similar conclusions as to the state of his mental health, court records show. Wright also diagnosed Powell as having a delusional disorder.
Alterio’s motion asks DiSalle to stay the proceedings in the case and dismiss the criminal homicide charge his client is facing. Powell remains in Washington County jail without bond.
Chad Schneider, the county’s first assistant district attorney, declined to comment on the case.