Mental evaluation ordered for attack suspect

A second defendant will be sent to a state hospital for a mental evaluation before standing trial in the November attack on a man who was kidnapped, beaten, stabbed and left near Moulton Falls.

The victim was able to flag down a passing motorist for help.

Trial had been set to start today in Clark County Superior Court.

Instead, Judge Diane Woolard signed an order last Thursday to transfer co-defendant Jeremiah D. Anderson from the Clark County Jail to Western State Hospital for a 15-day evaluation.

Woolard will review doctors' reports June 16 and determine whether Anderson, 19, is competent to stand trial.

Woolard has ruled that co-defendant Michael J. Harvey, 24, is competent to stand trial, meaning he understands the legal proceedings and can assist in his defense.

Harvey was sent to the Tacoma-area hospital soon after he, Anderson and Shawn W. Rogers, 18, were arrested last year.

All three men have pleaded not guilty to attempted first-degree murder.

Trial for Rogers and Harvey has been set for July 20, but they may end up being tried separately, Deputy Prosecutor Tony Golik said last week.

According to court documents, the defendants allegedly tried to kill the victim, Joshua Smith, for violating gang rules.

Smith told detectives from the Clark County Sheriff's Office that he had been involved with Juggalos, who are followers of the Detroit rap/horror group Insane Clown Posse, for years. Smith told detectives that around midnight Nov. 1, he was on Fourth Plain Boulevard when he was picked up by the suspects and driven to Moulton Falls Park, about three miles south of Yacolt.

After he was beaten and thrown over a footbridge, the suspects left, the victim said, according to court documents. He said he flagged down a motorist on Northeast Lucia Falls Road and was taken to Southwest Washington Medical Center, where he was treated for a punctured lung and stab wounds.

It's not clear what gang rules Smith allegedly violated. He told a detective that the suspects kept using the word "transformers."

One definition of "transformer" is someone who switches gang affiliations.

According to court documents, Harvey is affiliated with skinheads; Anderson and Rogers, with Juggalos.

Stephanie Rice: 360-735-4549 or stephanie.rice@columbian.com.