Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 14, 1995 TAG: 9503140156
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITEr
DATELINE: FLOYD LENGTH: Medium
Thomas Lonnie Helms Jr., 34, will be evaluated further before criminal proceedings against him go forward. Helms is charged with murdering and raping Harriet Shank Allen and breaking into her home.
Allen, who had been a nurse and worked with the county bloodmobile, was found dead outside her Floyd County home June 9, 1992 - her body partially wrapped around a locust tree.
Helms told investigators that a man dressed in black forced him to drive to Allen's house in the Harris-Cannady community and attack her. Helms said the man then killed her by slitting her throat.
Helms was first ruled incompetent to stand trial in December 1992 after he was described by psychiatrists as ``acutely psychotic and virtually unable to communicate in any rational manner.'' The first evaluation was requested after Helms complained of computer waves burning parts of his body and of people coming out of walls and walking past second-story windows in the jail.
Trial dates have been postponed repeatedly for further evaluations, with the case now set to be heard in August.
But Helms, who has been on anti-psychotic medication, continues to be in a delusional state, his lawyers told Judge-designate Kenneth Devore.
Lawyers Jack Gregory and Jonathan Apgar had been set to argue motions Monday to suppress statements investigators say Helms made several days after Allen's death, because his rights were not explained to him in sign language.
But last Friday, the defense team received the results of an evaluation by clinical psychiatrists at the University of Virginia's Institute of Law, Psychiatry and Public Policy.
All four could testify that Helms is not competent to stand trial, Gregory told Devore.
Gregory and Apgar asked that the testimony of one of Helms' examiners be allowed onto the record now so his findings could be preserved for the record should the case continue to be delayed.
``It may be that this may go on another three to five years before competency is restored,'' Gregory said.
But Commonwealth's Attorney Gino Williams said state statutes governing trials don't allow for evidence preservation once a defendant has been ruled incompetent to stand trial.
Williams said the prosecution already has lost a potential witness with the death of J.T. Oliver, an assistant special agent who supervised the work of Virginia State Police. The state police conducted the investigation with Floyd County deputies.
Devore denied the defense request to preserve the doctor's testimony and ordered Helms back to Central State Hospital in Petersburg for further evaluation and treatment before the motions hearings could be held.
``Reading the reports from the various doctors, it could be a day-to-day thing,'' Williams said of the chances Helms eventually could be ruled mentally fit to stand trial.
When asked if the case would ever be brought to trial, Williams said: ``It's hard to tell. Obviously, we're three years down the road.''
Apgar said, ``I'm beginning to wonder.''
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.