Following a brief hearing in the Barton County Courthouse main courtroom Friday afternoon, District Judge Ron Svaty ruled Jeffrey Wade Chapman competent to stand trial for the 2011 death of Damon Galyardt.
His first-degree murder trial has been set for Feb. 2-13, 2015, in Barton County. A pre-trial hearing is set for 2 p.m. Friday, Jan. 30.
Chapman is charged with killing the 25-year-old Galyardt, whose body was discovered by hunters on land southwest of Great Bend on Nov. 12, 2011. He pleaded not guilty in October 2012 and is being held at the Barton County Jail.
The trial was put on hold in July, pending a mental competency hearing at Larned State Hospital requested by Chapman’s attorney and ordered by Svaty. Chapman had reportedly been hallucinating since learning he was housed in a cell where another prisoner committed suicide.
The evaluation took place on a day in August after it was noted earlier that such evaluations could take much longer. In short, a doctor from LSH concluded Chapman was capable of standing trial. He based his determination on a 90-minute interview and 60 minutes of testing.
However, Svaty filed an order in which he questioned why the evaluation took less than a day and demanded an explanation. This order set the hearing Friday.
The defense also had doubts, claiming that wasn’t enough time to discern an accurate picture of his client’s mental state. Most such testing, he said, takes weeks.
Chapman’s attorney, Kurt Kerns of Wichita, called the Friday hearing’s only witness, Dr. Michael Klemens, LSH clinical director and supervisor of the forensic evaluators.
When asked why the evaluation took only 90 minutes, Klemens said that wasn’t that unusual. “It was consistent with other competency evaluations at the hospital.”
However, Klemens said, when Chapman was brought to the hospital by Barton County Sheriff’s Department deputies, hospital staff members were warned he was “aggressive and unpredictable” and a hold order faxed to LHS by Barton County authorities advised he be held in maximum security.
“There were concerns on our part that he could be aggressive towards others,” Klemens said. Because of this possibility, they put a rush on the evaluation and placed it at the top of the list to shorten the time he would be at LSH.
“This is not uncommon,” he said. His staff has even gone off-site for evaluations if necessary.
But, Klemens said, the time spent with Chapman was no different than that spent with other evaluation subject. “Most interviews last one to three hours.”
Kerns asked if observing Chapman over time would have been more accurate.
“Not necessarily,” Klemens said. “It depends on the circumstances.”
By state statute, they have 60 days to complete an evaluation. That doesn’t mean it has to take 60 days, just that they have to have it done within that time frame.
Kerns said Chapman had been admitted to LSH as a juvenile in 1998 for evaluation. At that time, he said his stay was much longer.
Also, he noted that Chapman had been cooperative at the time he was admitted to LSH earlier this year.
Without the hold order, Chapman would have had to wait his turn, Klemens said.
In her cross examination, Amy Hanley with the Kansas Attorney General’s Office summed up the testimony. The time spent with Chapman was not different than with anyone else and the only difference were the warnings that he might be aggressive.
With that, she said the state stands on the original report. Svaty agreed.
Then, Svaty suggested the trial be set for Dec. 8-18. This would have fallen within the 90 days required for a speedy trial.
However, Kerns said he had other trials that conflicted with those dates. So, Chapman waived his right to a speedy trial and the two weeks in February were set aside.
This case garnered national and international attention in April following attempts by Chapman to somehow have the mirrored image of the word “murder,” tattooed on his neck, covered before his trial. He had sought to have a tattoo artist remove or cover it, but that was rejected in lieu of having him wear a turtle neck.