UPDATE: 4/19/2010, 5:10 pm
Plans to send a man accused of gunning down two people to a state mental institution were put on hold Monday. Walter Shell was in court Monday afternoon. At a previous hearing last month, Judge Jerry Beck ruled Shell incompetent to stand trial and re-committed him to a state mental institution. However, since that decision, Shell has remained in jail, not a hospital.
Monday, his attorney Randy Fallin said Judge Beck revealed that Shell cannot be re-committed just yet. According to Fallin, state law requires doctors to perform two additional new mental evaluations before Shell can be re-committed. Due to these new revelations in court, Shell will likely stay behind bars for weeks to come.
"We're trying to search for a solution," Fallin, who agrees Shell needs to be committed, said. "For now, we're back to square one."
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A man charged with murdering two men more than a decade ago will not go to trial for the crime. Judge Jerry Beck made the decision inside a Washington County, TN courtroom Monday. Johnson City police first arrested and charged Walter Shell with two counts of first-degree murder in 1999, after they said he confessed to killing Paul Keyser and attorney John Goodin.
Since being released from a mental hospital last March, Shell had been in jail awaiting his fate. After District Attorney Tony Clark, defense attorney Randy Fallin, and the judge reviewed two independent mental evaluations, all agreed Shell was incompetent to stand trial. Still, the 81 year-old won't walk free anytime soon. Instead, he will spend the rest of his life in a mental institution.
"The court's of the opinion that the defendant meets the criteria for involuntary hospitalization," Judge Beck said as he recommitted the man.
Since Shell suffers from dementia and delusions, Clinical Psychologist Dr. Robert Roth testified Shell could be a risk to himself and others. With that in mind, Shell's family also supported the decision.
Even though the case never went to trial, Dee Goodin, the daughter of the late John Goodin, is okay with Monday's ruling.
"I'm fine with it," Goodin said. "I just wanted them to do something with Mr. Shell...I'm glad to see that the DA and the judge, as well as Mr. Fallin are all in agreement upon it and that something is finally going to be resolved after 11 years...If this is the last time I have to come to court, I will be delighted."
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