SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A 21-year-old woman has been found mentally fit to stand trial in the 2012 shooting death of a man in southwestern Missouri.
The Springfield News-Leader reports that a Greene County judge has declared Marya Von Brandt mentally competent for trial on a charge of second-degree murder in the death of 41-year-old Kevin Engh. Engh was shot to death in a car.
A psychiatrist who evaluated Von Brandt at the defense’s request had determined that Von Brandt suffered from multiple psychiatric disorders, meth withdrawals and a regressed mental state when she agreed to speak with investigators of Engh’s death.
But a judge in May signed off on Von Brandt’s prosecution going forward, ruling that she no longer is incompetent to understand the proceedings or assist in her defense.