LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A man who was charged for the 2018 murder of his mother has again been found not competent to stand trial, a setback for the state Attorney General's office which had intervened in the case last year to try to keep the man in custody.

Gavin Perkins is accused of shooting and killing his mother, Ruth Perkins, 69, in 2018. He was initially charged with murder, but the charge was dismissed in 2021 after he was found mentally incompetent to stand trial and ordered to a mental hospital.

His case attracted widespread criticism and interest last year as it appeared that not only would he not stand trial for the alleged murder but be released after Central State Hospital officials testified in April they could no longer keep him in custody.

A judge sided with Central State, which said Perkins wasn't benefiting from treatment and the facility could no longer continue to hold him under Kentucky law.

The family of Perkins' mother as well as Gov. Andy Beshear pushed for the attorney general's office to take up the case, as they believe he is still a danger.

The attorney general's office re-indicted Perkins for the five-year-old murder and he was lodged in Metro Corrections on a $500,000 cash bond.

In July, Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Patricia "Tish" Morris ordered Perkins to undergo another competency evaluation. On Feb. 13, Morris ruled Perkins was still incompetent to stand trial, finding he continues to suffer from paranoia and delusional thinking and is unlikely to regain competency in the future, according to her order.

Perkins suffers from delusions related to his military service and from the legal proceedings since the murder charge and would not be able to work with his attorneys during the trial, Morris ruled.

"Despite continued treatment Mr. Perkins is unlikely to replace his delusional thoughts with those based in fact because they are so deeply entrenched from ten years of self-reinforcement," according to the ruling.

Morris ordered him to be released from Metro Corrections and sent to the Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Center (KCPC) in La Grange.

The attorney general's office will now try to keep Perkins involuntary committed under a state law for people with mental illness that have been charged with a crime but are not mentally competent to stand trial, according to court records.

But the law, KRS Chapter 202c, better known as the Cane Madden law, currently only applies to people with a history of violent crimes.

Perkins' record is clear outside of the murder charge, and it is unclear if prosecutors could use the law since his crimes occurred before it was passed.

The loophole is part of state lawmakers sweeping crime bill, called the "Safer Kentucky Act."

Perkins' attorneys declined to comment since the hearings would be confidential.

A request for comment from the attorney general's office was not immediately answered.

Perkins has been incarcerated or in a psychiatric hospital since he allegedly shot and killed his 69-year-old mother in April 2018 at an east Louisville apartment complex.

Before he was re-indicted, Perkins remained hospitalized by his own choice, according to people familiar with the case.

The case has been compared to that of Madden, a Louisville man who continued to commit crimes, be found incompetent to stand trial but also failed to meet the criteria for involuntary hospitalization, over and over for several years.

Most recently, Madden was charged with the August 2019 beating and rape of a Louisville child until he was found mentally incompetent to stand trial on March 11, 2020.

In multiple instances in the past, Madden has been found incompetent and failed to meet this mental health criteria — meaning he repeatedly walked free — dodging both incarceration and mental health treatment. In Madden's case, psychiatrist ruled treatment would not help Madden.

On April 1, 2021, Beshear signed a bill into law that patched that gap in state law.

Under the new law, a defendant found incompetent has an evidentiary hearing, in front of a judge, to determine if there is a probability the person committed the crime. The defendant will have an attorney for this hearing.

If a judge finds there is a preponderance of evidence of guilt, there will be another hearing to determine whether it is in the best interest of the defendant and the community for the person to be involuntarily hospitalized using four new criteria, such as whether the person was a danger to self or others.

If the defendant is hospitalized, a judge would periodically review the status of the person.

But that law was meant for defendants with multiple crimes.

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