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No Comments [ Add Comment ]Murder suspect competent / Trial to move forward in shooting deaths of two prostitutes
By TIM GURRISTEROGDEN -- Jacob Ethridge has been found competent to stand trial on murder charges in the July shooting deaths of two women.
The results of examinations by two mental health professionals, who also reviewed his medical and military records, were presented to Judge W. Brent West at a hearing Wednesday morning in 2nd District Court.
A judge ordered the examinations July 21, eight days after the shootings in downtown Ogden, meant to determine if Ethridge could understand the charges against him and assist in his own defense.
The next step in the case is a preliminary hearing scheduled for Oct. 24 to ensure evidence meets the probable cause standard to advance the case to trial. West will preside at that hearing.
Ethridge, 31, of Harrisville, was arrested hours after the July 13 shootings. Police said he confessed both to his parents and to detectives that he killed Teresa Rene Tingey, 43, and Rosanna Marie Cruz, 25.
Ethridge's attorney has said he doesn't believe the case will go to trial because of his client's confessions.
Defense attorney Roy Cole, after Wednesday's hearing, said the psychological reports indicated Ethridge was on "three, possibly four" prescription medications at the time of the shootings. Ethridge was taking medications for depression, sleeping disorders and other mental conditions Cole said he could not elaborate on.
He did describe the drugs as "powerful, psychotrophic medications," which the two evaluations said "may have affected his judgment."
A lot is still not known about the interaction of medications in general, he said, "and we'll have to explore those issues."
Police say Ethridge approached the two women, who worked as prostitutes, asked them for sex, then shot them with a .40 caliber handgun.
Ethridge then went to his parents' Roy home, where he'd been living, telling them what he'd done. They went with him to the Ogden police department.
In 2006, two days before Christmas, police responded to Ethridge's Harrisville home and found him in the front yard, holding a gun to his head after threatening his wife, since divorced. He surrendered to police and was booked briefly into a mental health ward at McKay-Dee Hospital Center before serving three days in jail on a charge of domestic violence disorderly conduct.
Earlier that same year, Ethridge was briefly hospitalized after a suicide attempt in which he slashed his wrists, according to Harrisville police.
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