Monday, July 6, 2009

Update on July 6th Competency Hearing

Two reports and Judge William Barrett concluded the defendent IS competent and the preliminary hearing has been rescheduled for September 15, 2009 @ 9:00 am.

An article in the Salt Lake Tribune can be found here or read below:

Judge: Suspect in Magna slaying is mentally competent
Crime » He is accused of stabbing ex-girlfriend five times in the abdomen.
By Ronnie Turner


The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated: 07/06/2009 04:41:18 PM MDT

A man accused of fatally stabbing his neighbor and one-time girlfriend last August at her Magna home was ruled mentally competent to stand trial at a hearing Monday in 3rd District Court.

Judge William Barrett set a preliminary hearing for Charles Richard Gunkel, who is charged with first-degree felony aggravated murder for allegedly stabbing Morena Molly Robbins, 51, in the abdomen five times on Aug. 8.

Gunkel, 53, who could receive the death penalty if found guilty, will appear before Judge Deno Himonas on Sept. 15.

A preliminary hearing had previously been set for April 3, but was canceled after members of Gunkel's defense team said he was hearing voices. Prosecutors agreed to delay the hearing until his mental status had been evaluated.

According to charging documents, Gunkel visited Robbins' home and asked her 14-year-old daughter if he could speak to her mother. When Robbins refused to see Gunkel, he broke down the door and pushed her into her bedroom and onto the floor, documents state.

The documents said Gunkel sat on top of Robbins and choked her before pulling out a folding knife. The documents also said the daughter tried to intervene, but he threatened to harm her, too.

Robbins' daughter ran to a neighbor's home to call police, who discovered her mother's body on the bedroom floor.

Police suspect Gunkel might have been jealous that Robbins possibly had a new boyfriend.


Deseret News article here:

Murder suspect found competent for trial

Published: Monday, July 6, 2009 1:43 p.m.
A man who police say knifed his former girlfriend to death in Magna in 2008 has been found mentally competent to stand trial.

Police say Charles Richard Gunkel broke into the home of Molly Robbins, a second-grade teacher at Wright Elementary School, and killed her. Law enforcement officials also say Gunkel attacked Robbins' 14-year-old daughter, but she managed to flee to a neighbor's house.

Questions about Gunkel's competency were raised by his attorneys. Third District Judge William Barrett on Monday received the results of competency evaluations that said Gunkel is capable of proceeding to trial.

Gunkel, 53, is charged with aggravated murder and aggravated burglary, both first-degree felonies, and aggravated assault, a third-degree felony.

His next court date is a Sept. 15 preliminary hearing before 3rd District Judge Deno Himonas.

— Linda Thomson