Alleged rapist to have mental evaluation

A judge signed an order Thursday to send a Vancouver man accused of attacking two women in Hazel Dell to Western State Hospital for a mental evaluation.

The order for Dshawn D. Carr, 21, to spend 15 days at the state hospital near Tacoma was requested by defense attorney David Kurtz.

In the order, signed by Clark County Superior Court Judge John Nichols, Kurtz requested that Carr be evaluated for insanity and diminished capacity. The former relates to whether a defendant knew right from wrong and could appreciate the nature of his actions, and the latter looks at whether he could form intent to commit the crime.

Carr, 21, is implicated in the assaults of two women whom he did not know. The first attack occurred Jan. 30, when Carr allegedly accosted an employee of the Walmart store as she was walking along Highway 99 on her way home. Carr allegedly displayed a knife and ushered her to a nearby used car lot. He told her to lie down on the ground, where he allegedly raped her, according to a probable cause affidavit filed with the court.

Three nights later, Carr allegedly attacked a woman in the parking lot of WinCo Foods on Northeast Highway 99. She said he grabbed her by the hair as she was loading groceries and pushed her down into the car.

A witness who had seen him follow the victim out of the store confronted Carr, and he was arrested later that evening, police said.

Carr has pleaded not guilty to first-degree kidnapping and first-degree rape relating to the Jan. 30 allegations. He entered the same plea to second-degree attempted kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment and fourth-degree assault relating to the alleged attack three day later.

Carr’s trial on both new cases is set for April 11.