Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 3, 1994 TAG: 9412050044
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMAC STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The prosecution was dropped after a mental evaluation found that Quick is not competent to face two stalking charges, city Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Greg Phillips said Friday.
Quick, who was chief U.S. marshal for Western Virginia during the 1970s, has been charged at least four times with stalking the woman after she befriended him several years ago.
Authorities have said that Quick's fixation on the woman - who is less than half his age - evolved from fatherly concern to romantic interest to angry threats when she tried to distance herself.
Since he was indicted in August, Quick's mental and physical condition has declined steadily. He is being held at Catawba Hospital, and recently told a psychiatrist that he had lived there all his life.
"It's kind of sad, because he has absolutely no idea of what's going on right now," said Quick's lawyer, Assistant Public Defender William Fitzpatrick.
A mental evaluation filed in Roanoke Circuit Court found that Quick suffers from "senile dementia" and does not have the "capacity to understand the proceedings against him and to assist in his defense."
Quick was the first person in Roanoke to face a felony stalking charge. Stalking - defined by state law as any behavior that causes another person emotional distress or fear of bodily harm or death - is usually a misdemeanor.
It is only after a third stalking conviction that the offense becomes a felony, carrying up to five years in prison. The stalking law was broadened this year by the General Assembly to include behavior that causes the victim to fear a sexual assault.
Because one of the charges against Quick involved a sexual threat, the woman is not being named.
Evidence from earlier cases has shown that Quick has called the woman repeatedly at all hours, written her dozens of rambling letters and showed up uninvited on her doorstep numerous times.
The latest charges against Quick alleged that within hours after he was released from jail on a stalking charge in July, he went to the woman's home and was arrested again. He then wrote her sexually threatening letters from jail, authorities said.
Quick is expected to remain at Catawba for the near future and may be placed in an adult home in Richmond later. Under an agreement to have the charges dropped, prosecutors are free to refile them if Quick is ever in a position to threaten the woman again.
by CNB