A Camas woman has been found mentally competent to stand trial for the hit-and-run death of a 65-year-old man who was using a walker to cross Mill Plain Boulevard in October.
Jessica B. VanWechel, 30, pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of vehicular homicide, hit-and-run death, resisting arrest and third-degree driving while suspended.
She allegedly was sending text messages about 7 p.m. Oct. 28 when her vehicle struck Stephen D. Dewey, 65, of Vancouver as he was crossing Mill Plain near Southeast 105th Avenue. She then fled the scene without seeking help for the man, police said.
Dewey died of his injuries about a week later.
Her court-appointed attorney, Louis Byrd Jr., requested in March that she have a mental competency evaluation because she’d been on a suicide watch at the jail. Experts at Western State Hospital found her competent, and Judge Scott Collier on Thursday signed an order finding her competent.
Since her arrest Feb. 26, VanWechel has been in jail in lieu of $75,000 bail.
