Oregon... gotta love it. >:[
Ward Weaver is unfit for trial? Bullshit. He is sane as he ever was, thank you. He's trying to get out of a trial so he can get off scott free with the stupid statute of limitations. You KNOW he's trying. Being stupid as shit ain't a mental illness. The motherfucker needs to answer for what he did! He raped and butchered two teenage girls, and dismembered the bodies.
The idiot doesn't deserve a mental facility, he deserves the gallows. Hanged, drawn and quartered.
Story at OregonLive
Judge suspends Weaver trial, sends him to state mental hospital
By ANDREW KRAMER
The Associated Press
4/22/2004, 3:15 p.m. PT
OREGON CITY, Ore. (AP) - Nineteen months after his indictment on charges of murdering two girls and hiding their bodies on his rental property, a judge sent Ward Weaver to a state mental hospital, indefinitely suspending his trial.
Judge Robert Herndon said Weaver, 41, "does at the present time satisfy the criteria," of mental illness defined under Oregon law. Herndon said Weaver suffered from severe depression, preventing him from cooperating in his own defense.
Relatives of the two murdered girls, Ashley Pond, 12, and Miranda Gaddis, 13, gasped as they heard the ruling in the Clackamas County court. Lori Pond, mother of Ashley, cried openly.
The disappearance of the two girls in early 2002 was profiled in national magazines and television shows, prompted a nationwide FBI manhunt that drew in more than 60 agents and captivated the Portland area. The search ended a few hundred yards from the girls' front doors in Oregon City, when their bodies were found in Weaver's backyard under a concrete slab and in a shed. His daughter had been friendly with both Ashley and Miranda.
Weaver was arrested in August on unrelated charges of raping his son's girlfriend. He was indicted in October and charged on six counts of aggravated murder, rape, abuse of a corpse and other charges.
He became the second generation of Weaver men to face the death penalty for rape and murder. His father, Ward Weaver Jr., is on death row in California, after also burying a woman's body under a concrete slab in a back yard.
Herndon noted that psychiatrists called by both the defense and the prosecution agreed that Weaver suffered from depression, and had gauged his mental state as clearly impaired.
The judge also said that Weaver had been taking heavy doses of anti-depressant medications since his admittance to the Clackamas County Jail in 2002.
Herndon said that if doctors from the state mental hospital in Salem determine that Weaver is feigning his symptoms, he will be returned to Clackamas County, and the trial will resume.
Weaver, who shuffled into the courtroom looking only at his feet, was unresponsive throughout the hearing. He did not react to the judge's ruling, slouching in his chair and looking at the floor.
A psychiatrist for the defense had diagnosed Weaver with narcissistic personality disorder and major depression; but a competing expert for the prosecution said he was faking some of his symptoms.
On Wednesday, psychiatrists testified that Weaver told them he is hearing voices and tried to kill himself. They also said he has experienced rapid mental deterioration after being placed in solitary confinement.
Since January, Weaver has carved his daughter's name into his forearm, lacerated his chest, banged his head against a wall and told doctors he believes he is in jail as punishment for spanking his daughter. He also said he forgets his attorneys' names.
Treatment at the Oregon State Hospital typically includes group therapy, counseling and medications, said interim superintendent Maynard Hammer. The hospital is treating 76 such defendants and a typical stay is four to six months. Constant observation makes faking symptoms tough, Hammer said.
Also pending is a motion by Weaver's defense team asking to quit - the second pair of attorneys who said they could not work with Weaver.
Weaver has proven a tough case for this small community south of Portland, a one-time pioneer boom town and terminus of the Oregon Trail in the 19th century. The judge, said John Henry Hingson, an Oregon City attorney who is the past president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said the judge seems willing to trade speed for caution to guard against appeal.
"He does not want any kinks in the rope if Ward Weaver is going to be hung by a noose," Hingson said.
Now, those girls were only two steps up from Jerry Springer trailer trash, but they deserve to have their murderer brought to justice.
The idiot doesn't deserve a mental facility, he deserves the gallows. Hanged, drawn and quartered.
Story at OregonLive
Judge suspends Weaver trial, sends him to state mental hospital
By ANDREW KRAMER
The Associated Press
4/22/2004, 3:15 p.m. PT
OREGON CITY, Ore. (AP) - Nineteen months after his indictment on charges of murdering two girls and hiding their bodies on his rental property, a judge sent Ward Weaver to a state mental hospital, indefinitely suspending his trial.
Judge Robert Herndon said Weaver, 41, "does at the present time satisfy the criteria," of mental illness defined under Oregon law. Herndon said Weaver suffered from severe depression, preventing him from cooperating in his own defense.
Relatives of the two murdered girls, Ashley Pond, 12, and Miranda Gaddis, 13, gasped as they heard the ruling in the Clackamas County court. Lori Pond, mother of Ashley, cried openly.
The disappearance of the two girls in early 2002 was profiled in national magazines and television shows, prompted a nationwide FBI manhunt that drew in more than 60 agents and captivated the Portland area. The search ended a few hundred yards from the girls' front doors in Oregon City, when their bodies were found in Weaver's backyard under a concrete slab and in a shed. His daughter had been friendly with both Ashley and Miranda.
Weaver was arrested in August on unrelated charges of raping his son's girlfriend. He was indicted in October and charged on six counts of aggravated murder, rape, abuse of a corpse and other charges.
He became the second generation of Weaver men to face the death penalty for rape and murder. His father, Ward Weaver Jr., is on death row in California, after also burying a woman's body under a concrete slab in a back yard.
Herndon noted that psychiatrists called by both the defense and the prosecution agreed that Weaver suffered from depression, and had gauged his mental state as clearly impaired.
The judge also said that Weaver had been taking heavy doses of anti-depressant medications since his admittance to the Clackamas County Jail in 2002.
Herndon said that if doctors from the state mental hospital in Salem determine that Weaver is feigning his symptoms, he will be returned to Clackamas County, and the trial will resume.
Weaver, who shuffled into the courtroom looking only at his feet, was unresponsive throughout the hearing. He did not react to the judge's ruling, slouching in his chair and looking at the floor.
A psychiatrist for the defense had diagnosed Weaver with narcissistic personality disorder and major depression; but a competing expert for the prosecution said he was faking some of his symptoms.
On Wednesday, psychiatrists testified that Weaver told them he is hearing voices and tried to kill himself. They also said he has experienced rapid mental deterioration after being placed in solitary confinement.
Since January, Weaver has carved his daughter's name into his forearm, lacerated his chest, banged his head against a wall and told doctors he believes he is in jail as punishment for spanking his daughter. He also said he forgets his attorneys' names.
Treatment at the Oregon State Hospital typically includes group therapy, counseling and medications, said interim superintendent Maynard Hammer. The hospital is treating 76 such defendants and a typical stay is four to six months. Constant observation makes faking symptoms tough, Hammer said.
Also pending is a motion by Weaver's defense team asking to quit - the second pair of attorneys who said they could not work with Weaver.
Weaver has proven a tough case for this small community south of Portland, a one-time pioneer boom town and terminus of the Oregon Trail in the 19th century. The judge, said John Henry Hingson, an Oregon City attorney who is the past president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said the judge seems willing to trade speed for caution to guard against appeal.
"He does not want any kinks in the rope if Ward Weaver is going to be hung by a noose," Hingson said.
Now, those girls were only two steps up from Jerry Springer trailer trash, but they deserve to have their murderer brought to justice.