The judge who ordered a mental competency evaluation for first-degree murder suspect Jeffrey Wade Chapman now wants to hear why the evaluation at Larned State Security Hospital took less than a day.
Judge Ron Svaty has scheduled a hearing for 3 p.m. on Sept. 26, where he will hear testimony from “whatever Larned State Security Hospital employee that decided to evaluate and return the defendant the same day.” If no one can be found who made that decision, the judge has ordered LSH Superintendent Thomas J. Kinlen to testify.
Chapman is charged with killing 25-year-old Damon Galyardt, whose body was discovered by hunters on land southwest of Great Bend on Nov. 12, 2011. He is being held at the Barton County Jail.
His attorney requested a competency evaluation in July, citing reports that Chapman was seeing hallucinations. “Jeffrey Wade Chapman is in the same cell where he had previously discovered an inmate suicide,” the motion for an evaluation stated. “Said placement has undermined Mr. Chapman’s mental health, over time, to the point that a competency determination must be made.”
The evaluation occurred one day in August. Judge Svaty’s order for a hearing on Sept. 26 indicates he wants to hear testimony “as to the rationale behind the decision to evaluate and return the defendant the same day.” The judge also wants to know “what information was relied upon to make the decision to evaluate and return the defendant the same day, as well as the person or entity that provided said information.