Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 8, 1993 TAG: 9312080143
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
At a hearing Tuesday in Roanoke Circuit Court, Judge Clifford Weckstein granted a motion to have Ricky Lynn O'Neil evaluated at Central State Hospital in Petersburg.
Ann Gardner, assistant commonwealth's attorney, asked for the tests after defense attorney Richard Lawrence filed notice of an insanity plea.
Court records show that O'Neil was examined by a Charlottesville psychiatrist at Lawrence's request, but details of his findings have not be released.
O'Neil is scheduled to go on trial Dec. 15 on a charge of killing his brother-in-law.
Pleas of not guilty by reason of insanity are rare in Virginia and require defendants to show they did not understand the difference between right and wrong at the time of the crime.
O'Neil, 40, is charged with killing his sister's husband, 47-year-old Joseph Turner Davis Jr., the night of March 2 at a home the three shared on Woodcrest Road Northwest.
Authorities have said an argument could have been caused by two things: O'Neil had attempted unsuccessfully to borrow money from Davis for a sports bet earlier in the day, then became angry a second time when he arrived home too late for dinner.
When police were called to the house about 8 p.m., they found Davis had been shot in the back, shoulder and arm with two different guns.
O'Neil, whose occupation is listed in court records as an aviation mechanic, is being held in the Roanoke City Jail.
Keywords:
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by CNB