Dementia finding possible for husband in case
The slaying of an 85-yearold community activist is being blamed on her elderly husband, but a psychological evaluation has been done to determine if he is competent to stand trial. He could be the third Franklin County defendant in the past six years to be found incompetent due to dementia in the death of a family member.
Perhaps no central Ohio murder in 2019 was more shocking than that of community activist Dorothy Cage.
The 85-year-old Northeast Side resident, winner of the 2017 YWCA Women of Achievement Award, was killed Oct. 7 in her home. Her 82-year-old husband was arrested at the scene.
Columbus police said Henry C. Evans had struck his wife with a wooden table.
Three weeks later, a Franklin County Common Pleas judge ordered that Evans undergo a psychological evaluation to determine if he is competent to stand trial.
The findings of the evaluation have not been made public, but it is suspected that Evans has dementia, which could make it difficult for him to understand the case or assist his attorney, Phillip Templeton.
“I felt that the gentleman was suffering from some type of mental illness, and based on his age and what his family told me, it appears to be dementia,” Templeton said.
A hearing is set for Jan. 24 to consider whether, based on the psychological evaluation, the case against Evans can move forward.
If he is found incompetent for trial due to dementia, it will be the third such finding in the past six years for an elderly defendant charged in the death of a family member in Franklin County.
“Violence in dementia tends to be rare,” said Terry Kukor, a forensic psychologist and director of forensic services for Netcare.
Those with cognitive disorders related to aging can become confused and agitated, which can sometimes lead to them taking a swing at someone, he said, “but assaults or murders are very atypical.”
A psychologist’s process for determining if someone is incompetent due to dementia involves “a confluence of data from a variety of sources,” Kukor said. “You look at medical records, talk to jail staff, do neuropsychological testing, get input from the family. It takes a lot more than someone saying, ‘I don’t remember.’”
In July, a judge ruled that 73-year-old Booker Moody was incompetent for trial in the Aug. 15, 2018, shooting death of his 19-yearold granddaughter. Moody had used a shotgun to fire through the window of their South Side home after mistaking his granddaughter for an intruder, police said.
The court also found that Moody could not be restored to competency, and it ordered that he remain in a Perry County nursing home where he has lived since being indicted.
Restoration is attempted in many cases after defendants are found incompetent, with the goal of eventually bringing them to trial. But such a treatment process is rarely possible for someone with a diagnosis of dementia because the condition is progressive and incurable, said Kukor of NetCare.
Instead, judges rule that such defendants have a mental illness and are subject to court-ordered hospitalization, typically at a secure dementia unit in a nursing home, for the rest of their lives.
A finding of incompetentto-stand-trial is rarely contested when a psychologist determines that a defendant has dementia, Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien said.
“There’s nothing to fight over,” he said. “Both sides agree, and that means you can’t go forward with the prosecution.”
That was the case for Moody, as well as for Leif “Mort” Mortensen, who was 72 when he was found incompetent and unrestorable because of dementia in the Feb. 13, 2013, stabbing death of his 74-yearold wife, Nina, at their North Side home.
“It was undisputed that he had dementia, and it continued to progress significantly while the case was pending,” said Mortensen’s attorney, R. Kevin Kerns.
His client’s actions were “completely surprising,” said Kerns, who was related to Mrs. Mortensen. “They were one of the most loving couples I ever knew. There had never been any domestic violence.”
Mr. Mortensen was placed in a Fayette County nursing home, where he died in 2017.