Indiana county President Judge William Martin will rule on a motion today concerning the mental competency of Todd Walters, the 40-year-old Indiana man accused of beating his mother, 72-year-old Ruth Shirey, to death in 2015.
Shirey died at Indiana Regional Medical Center hours after the beating, and Walters was found later that day driving her car in Altoona. Since his arrest, Walters has undergone several mental health evaluations and was involuntarily committed to Torrance State Hospital. He was declared mentally fit to stand trial on June 11th, but since then, he has had another mental health evaluation and a second criminal case has come against him for an unprovoked attack on a fellow patient at Torrance.
The motion before Judge Martin today concerns potentially implementing mental health treatment as an alternative to criminal penalties against Walters. Martin had denied this motion “without prejudice”, meaning that Martin could consider it again, which he will do today. Walters will be present at today’s hearing. Walter’s next hearing on his mental competency will be July 24th.
