Danny K. Coston
WHITE CO.—The Danny K. Coston jury trial date in White County has been vacated.
Coston, the man accused of killing two young people, Jacob Wheeler and Jessica Evans, who were camping in rural Centerville last August, has had his speedy trial date of May 21, 2013, taken off the docket and all because his attorney is asking that his client undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
A somewhat bizarre request is being made for a fitness examination for Coston that is an addendum to the original motion filed for psychiatric evaluation at the end of March: it’s bizarre in that there are two separate time frames, his attorney John P. Rogers (of the Rosenblum Law Group in St. Louis) stated, that Coston needs an exam in—currently, for fitness to stand trial, and one for what his mental state was at the time of the alleged offense.
Despite the obvious fact that no one has perfected time travel yet, White County State’s Attorney Denton Aud voiced his concern over the motions for these fitness exams to Judge Tom Foster, stating today in court that these were “two separate issues.”
“Why does it matter? I’m entitled to it,” Rogers, appearing annoyed, said to the judge.
Foster asked Rogers if he was proposing another order other than what he was seeking previously.
“I just want the fitness exam,” Rogers said simply, not elaborating.
“I just want to make sure it’s clear what order it’s going under,” Aud responded.
Rogers then brought up something that many who have been watching the case since Coston’s arrest on Aug. 31, 2012, have been fearing: that from talking to his client, he and a few others thought that he might be unfit to stand trial.
“I don’t want to hear about conversations that you’ve had with your client,” Foster interrupted, stopping him from divulging anything further. “What is it that makes you think he’s unfit?”
Rogers replied that his client “couldn’t recall specific answers,” ostensibly, those that he gave at the time of his questioning, which occurred over several hours on that Friday night of Aug. 31, ensuing at the sheriff’s department shortly after Coston got off work at the electric contracting company where he was employed (meaning he was “okay” enough to have worked all week after the alleged incident, but apparently not “okay” enough to answer questions about it).
The judge told Rogers that he needed to pick one of the two orders (fitness at the time of the alleged incident, or fitness currently); and to either hire his own psychiatric evaluator or go with the state supported evaluator.
He chose to go through the state.
“I’m going to allow you the examine if there is a doubt to stand trial,” Foster told Rogers.
“I will use court funds for an examination and see if we need to go further and get enough funds to get my own evaluator,” Rogers advised.
Judge Foster was insistent that he wanted to “keep it moving” (the trial) as quickly as possible, but Rogers said he could not find a psychiatrist under the time constraint of the jury trial beginning May 21, and was asking for a continuance.
Foster stated that Rodgers could hire either a private psychiatrist, or someone from the Department of Human Services.
“Before I approve someone I’d like to find out what their fee is, since it will be being paid for by the county,” Foster said. “I don’t want to spend unnecessary money and I’d like for it to be someone from DHS.”
Rodgers was still asking for six to eight weeks, at least 30 days to prepare the evaluation, and he claimed he didn’t have everything from the state yet.
A recess was taken for the judge and both attorneys to make a few phone calls to see if DHS was the one that did the fitness examines.
A few minutes shy of an hour the recess was over and the judge announced that a forensic psychiatrist named Dr. Victoria Potsuvoti (spelling approximate) was going to do the exam and submit a written report of the psych eval on a “limited scope.”
“This is a statutory limitation,” Foster reminded.
“I believes it is just a delay tactic,” Aud stated
The doctor is leaving May 17 so the exam, the judge would assume, should be done before that time. Coston remains jailed on a $3.5 million ($350,000 cash) bail.
There will be a status/pre-trial on May 22.
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