Indiana County President Judge William Martin has ruled that Todd Walters, who is accused of killing his mother in 2015, is now competent to stand trial.
Martin made the ruling on October 11th. Walters is charged with beating his mother, 72-year-old Ruth Shirey, to death at her home on Diamond Avenue in February of 2015. He was arrested later that day in Altoona, as he was found driving his missing mother’s car.
Walters has a history of severe schizophrenia and during a preliminary hearing, his father testified that he stopped taking his medicine several months before Shirey’s death. Several hearings and evaluations were held concerning Walters’ mental competence, and he was also involuntarily committed to Torrance State Hospital. Last year, Walters was declared fit to stand trial, but he had another mental health evaluation and a second criminal case filed against him for an unprovoked attack against a fellow inmate at Torrance.
The trial is scheduled for February.
