SEATTLE (AP) — A Seattle homeless man accused of killing two strangers with a hatchet more than two years ago is back in a mental hospital, a month after a judge determined he was competent to stand trial.
The King County prosecutor’s office told The Seattle Times (http://is.gd/HgpuB3 ) that doctors at Western State Hospital will try to restore his mental competency, which doctors felt had deteriorated while awaiting trail.
His family says Michael LaRosa had long been struggling with mental illnesses.
In November 2010, 58-year-old Joseph LaMagno and 64-year-old Dale Richard Holme were killed in what prosecutors call unprovoked attacks.
LaRosa was arrested in an alley just steps from where LaMagno was killed.
LaRosa is set to return to King County Superior Court for a hearing regarding his mental-health status on July 2. A trial date has not been set.
