He will be sent to a mental health facility.
Frederick, Md (KM) A Frederick County Circuit Court Judge has found a man charged with 1st-degree murder incompetent to stand trial. Sean Christopher Shifflett, 33, has been ordered by the judge to be sent to a mental health facility.
Chief Assistant State’s Attorney for the Violent Crimes Unit, Rebecca Clinton, says Shifflett’s attorney entered a plea that the defendant was incompetent to stand trial, and an evaluation was conducted by the Maryland Department of Health.
In Circuit Court on Tuesday, a psychiatrist told the judge that Shifflett was currently incompetent to stand trial, is a danger to himself and others; and would require psychiatric hospitalization. Clinton says the judge decided that the defendant was incompetent to stand trial, and ordered him taken from the Adult Detention Center to a mental health facility. “Another hearing is set in December for a review of that competency to determine if his competency been restored,” says Clinton.
That second competency hearing date is December 2nd, 2021.
“A competency goes toward whether or not he has the present ability of rational understanding of the proceedings at that specific point to assist his attorney in the proceedings and things like that, and to understand the proceedings as they are going on, ” Clinton continues.
Shifflett was arrested in April, 2021 for 1st-degree murder for the death of his father, Terry Lynn Shifflett, 66. The Sheriff’s Office says the two got into a physical altercation at a home in the 7000 block of Hames Court in the Farmbrook community which is just outside of Frederick. Deputies found Terry Lynn Shifflett’s body in a bedroom.
Since his arrest, Sean Shifflett has been held without bond.
By Kevin McManus