Judge rules suspect in 2022 Mount Dora double murder too mentally ill to stand trial
TAVARES — Vickie Williams is too mentally ill to stand trial in the slaying of an elderly couple in their Waterman Village home, Circuit Judge Cary Rada ruled Monday.
His decision means that the 41-year-old will be sent to a state mental hospital to be treated until she is able to help her attorneys. State Attorney Bill Gladson is seeking the death penalty in the murder of Sharon and Darryl Getman in Mount Dora on Dec. 31, 2022.
She was arrested in the couple's car in her hometown of Savannah, Georgia.
Mental health experts and Lake County jail officials testified Wednesday about “gross,” bizarre behavior and witnessing her urinating on a chair in the courtroom.
She has refused to cooperate with counselors while “hoarding urine and feces.” She splashes urine on her face, hides feces in her mattress and throws it at corrections officers, officials testified.
The prosecution’s expert, Jason Demery, Ph.D., said she was acting and was manipulative, including urinating on the chair right after someone commented that she was not being disruptive.
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His concern was whether she was “malingering,” the psychological term for faking mental illness. However, he said he did not have enough evidence to form a formal opinion.
Defense expert Dr. Bhushan S. Agharkar testified that he talked to her from outside her cell and noticed the floor was wet. She denied it was urine and claimed it was from leaky plumbing.
“Dr. Agharkar stated the defendant did not appear to be bothered by the odor and found that significant because it is common for people with schizophrenia to be oblivious to their circumstances and surroundings,” the judge noted in his order.
Williams told the doctor she was not mentally ill.
“Dr. Agharkar testified that the denial of mental health issues shows a lack of insight and that it negates a finding of malingering because, generally, people that malinger will claim they have various mental illnesses,” the judge also noted.
Another doctor said that Williams refused to answer questions or cooperate, which is common among mentally ill people. They … “do not believe that anything is wrong with them and they can be grossly paranoid,” he said.
He said her speech was “nonsensical” and that when she did answer questions it was not relevant.
The judge himself noted that she came into the courtroom claiming that her name was “Candace,” that Assistant Public Defender Morris Carranza was not her lawyer, and that she muttered to herself. She was removed from the courtroom so she could be cleaned up but she refused to return.
The head of mental health treatment at the jail and the public defender’s mitigation investigator also opined that she is mentally ill and unable to aid her defense team.
She is not able to care for herself, is a danger to herself and others, and cannot help her lawyer, the judge ruled. He ordered that she be turned over to the Department of Children and Families for treatment.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Mount Dora double murder suspect too mentally for trial, judge rules
