ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, November 9, 1996 TAG: 9611110033
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
A 16-year-old boy who has been hearing voices and hallucinating while in custody on charges of robbing five Roanoke convenience stores is not competent to stand trial, a psychologist testified Friday.
Judge Joseph Clarke ordered that Keith L. Goodrich be sent to a psychiatric hospital for evaluation and treatment after hearing the testimony in Roanoke Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.
Goodrich has told psychologists that he thought he heard the devil calling his name while incarcerated on the charges, according to his lawyer, Onzlee Ware of Roanoke.
Goodrich faces five robbery charges and three counts of use of a firearm stemming from convenience store robberies on Aug.16, 17 and 21.
Goodrich will be returned to court in mid-January for another hearing to determine if he is competent to stand trial then, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Ann Gardner said.
Goodrich and 17-year-old Robert Addison were charged in September with a string of convenience store robberies that were notable for the blaze-orange masks worn by one or both robbers.
Three of the robberies - of the Turbo Food Mart on Plantation Road Northeast, the Uni-Mart on Jefferson Street Southwest and the 7-Eleven on Grandin Road Southwest - happened within six hours of one another the morning of Aug. 17. Twenty-four hours earlier, the Express Stop Food Mart on Orange Avenue was robbed.
Goodrich has also been charged with the robbery of Snappy's Food Mart in Northeast Roanoke the night of Aug.21.
Also on Friday, Addison waived his right to a preliminary hearing on four counts of robbery and three counts of use of a firearm. The case now goes to a grand jury in Circuit Court, where Addison faces trial as an adult under new laws aimed at getting tough on violent juvenile offenders.
The new laws, which took effect July 1, also opened the juvenile court hearings for Goodrich and Addison, who would not have been identified as part of closed hearings under the old juvenile justice system.
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