CRIME: MENTAL EVALUATIONS OF TEEN SUSPECT YIELD DIFFERENT RESULTS

Various opinions still exist as to the sanity of 16-year-old murder suspect Joshua Wolf.

Two psychologists from the Fulton State Hospital found Wolf mentally competent to stand trial after an independent forensic examiner said he wasn't. His attorney, Stephen Wilson of Cape Girardeau, is looking for more opinions.

At least two more mental exams, one by the state and another by an independent examiner, are necessary, Wilson said.

Last June, by request of the Cape Girardeau County juvenile court, a forensic examiner tested Wolf and came to a conclusion that "he did not know or appreciate his actions" connected with the shooting of his grandmother, 56-year-old Carolyn Lindley.

A confession given by Wolf to police indicates that he shot Lindley at their home in rural Cape Girardeau County near Jackson as she watched television on May 6. On May 9, firefighters responded to a house fire where Wolf and Lindley had lived for two weeks to find Wolf, traces of gasoline and Lindley's body.

At the end of June, after Wolf was certified to stand trial as an adult, Cape Girardeau County Prosecutor Morley Swingle requested an extensive mental examination. The examination was completed Aug. 29 and found Wolf competent. He was returned to the Cape Girardeau County jail on Sept. 6.

But after Wolf stopped eating for a couple of days, Sheriff John Jordan decided it was best to send him back to Fulton State Hospital.

Insanity defense rare

Although Wolf originally was held in the intermediate security Guhleman Forensic Center while under examination, he was returned to the maximum security Biggs Forensic Center. Both centers are part of Fulton State Hospital.

Biggs is the only maximum security facility for the criminally insane in Missouri, said Dr. Felix Vincenz, superintendent of Fulton State Hospital.

"All the fences are topped with razor wire," Vincenz said.

Missouri has had the maximum security mental facility since 1936. Those who have been charged with murder, arson, robbery, sex offenses and other serious crimes go to the 222-bed Biggs Center. Only two patients have escaped.

If a person in Biggs is convicted of a crime, he is transferred to the Missouri Department of Corrections, Vincenz said. Anyone found not guilty by reason of insanity remains in Biggs or Guhleman in Fulton, or a lower security facility in St. Joseph, St. Louis or Farmington. All are part of the Missouri Department of Mental Health.

Criminal cases involving a question of sanity are rare, Vincenz said. About 2 percent of cases have an insanity plea, he said, and only 2 percent of those cases end in a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.

Returning to society

Finding a person competent to stand trial requires some very basic understanding by the defendant, such as the purpose of a judge and prosecutor.

"He needs to know that the judge is a finder of legal facts, that the prosecutor is there to put you in jail," Vincenz said.

A defendant also has to be able to conduct himself in court reasonably.

"He shouldn't be in there screaming at voices," the superintendent said.

Inside the Biggs Center, no patients in custody leave the facility unless they are in shackles.

Patients can be transferred to lower security facilities as they improve, and many eventually return to society.

But no one gets out easily, Vincenz said.

"On average, people stay as long as they would have if they were convicted and given a maximum sentence," he said. "We make sure that we're releasing people that pose no danger to society."