LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Gavin Perkins, who has repeatedly been ruled not competent to stand trial for the 2018 murder of his mother and was not in custody, will now be lodged in jail and again be psychologically tested.
After being re-indicted for the five-year-old murder, Perkins will be kept in Metro Corrections on a $500,000 cash bond, a Louisville judge ordered on Monday.
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.
His case has attracted widespread criticism and interest in recent weeks 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.
However, Perkins has remained hospitalized by his own choice, according to people familiar with the case.
Attorney General Daniel Cameron's office indicted Perkins on the same murder charge last month, in part because he could leave the hospital at any time.
At his arraignment today, Sheila Seadler, an attorney for Perkins, argued he has already been repeatedly ruled incompetent and experts have testified he is to unable to regain competency.
If the judge, Patricia Morris, was not going to rely on previous competency evaluations, Seadler asked her schedule a new one immediately. The judge ordered the evaluation.
Seadler pointed out that there has been up to a year-long wait at Kentucky’s state-run psychiatric center, arguing this would be a violation of Perkins’ due process.
In recent months, that wait has been cut in half.
In addition, Seadler said the current $500,000 cash bond was “unreasonably high” and noted that Perkins was voluntarily staying at Central State until he was arrested on the new indictment.
Due to the serious nature of the charge and possibility of Perkins fleeing, Morris kept the bond the same but scheduled a July 31 hearing for both sides to argue what the proper bond amount should be.
A pre-trial hearing was scheduled for August.
A prosecutor for the Attorney General’s office said they have already turned over the evidence against Perkins to his attorneys.
A not guilty pleading was entered on behalf of Perkins.
In a statement to WDRB, Seadler said that Perkins "was found not competent to stand trial with no substantial probability that he would attain competency in the foreseeable future on the charge of murder.
"Because of his incompetency he could not be criminally prosecuted. Since that time he had been receiving mental health services and was cooperating with ongoing treatment. The involvement of the Attorney General’s Office and this new indictment seem to be the result of the recent media attention, much of which was based upon factually inaccurate information about Mr. Perkins and his circumstances. He was arrested at Central State Hospital on the new indictment and is now housed in Louisville Metro Corrections which is a nontherapeutic environment where he isn’t receiving the level of mental health services that his condition requires."
Seadler said she and her co-counsel, Beth McMahon, "are very concerned that he will continue to deteriorate."
The family of the Perkins' mother, Ruth, as well as Gov. Andy Beshear had pushed for Cameron's office to take up the case, as they believe he is still a danger. Perkins was in the military and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.
The case has been compared to that of Cane 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.
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.
Tom Wine, the former Jefferson County Commonwealth's Attorney, had filed two petitions in an effort to keep Perkins hospitalized. The second petition led to a civil trial earlier this year, in which the judge allowed Perkins to be involuntarily hospitalized for 60 days.
When that period came to an end last month, the new Commonwealth's Attorney, Gerina Whethers, filed another petition asking that Perkins be hospitalized for another 360 days.
The petition was denied.
Family members Kirsten Russell and Chad Perkins have expressed concern about what could happen if Perkins doesn't remain hospitalized.
"We are just trying to prevent really bad things from happening," Chad Perkins has said.
According to them, he suffers from persecutory delusional disorder.
"He believes that specifically government agents are out to get him," Chad Perkins said. "The FBI, the police, CIA, anyone like that."
Previous Stories:
- Louisville man accused of murdering his mother booked into jail on new indictment
- Attorney general gets new indictment against Louisville man accused of killing his mom
- Family says Louisville man accused of killing his own mother is still in custody despite possible release
- Attorney general to examine case in attempt to keep Louisville man accused of killing his mom in custody
- Prosecutor asks that Louisville man accused of killing mom remain hospitalized
- Man accused of killing 69-year-old mother in east Louisville appears in court
- UPDATE: Police arrest son of 69-year-old woman found shot to death in east Louisville
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