Judge Gina Jones ordered another mental competency evaluation Friday for a man charged in January 2019 with killing his roommate at a long-term care facility in Gary.
Withrow, now 35, was charged with murder in January 2019 with the Jan. 26, 2019 beating death of David Carte, 48, of Gary.
He was found incompetent to stand trial in July 2019 and later transported to Logansport State Hospital. Since then, the case was revived last year after he was found competent again.
Two Lake County court-appointed psychologists were split in separate reports earlier this month over whether Withrow is competent to stand trial. Deputy Prosecutor Judy Massa agreed with defense lawyer Eric Morris in court Friday that another evaluation was needed.
The next court date is March 13.
Gary Police were called around 7:30 p.m. Jan. 26, 2019 to a long-term care facility in the 4900 block of Melton Road in Gary for a report of an aggravated battery, a probable cause affidavit states.
The victim, “badly beaten by another resident of the facility,” was taken Methodist Hospitals Northlake, according to the affidavit. He was in “critical condition,” with “lacerations to his head,” a “severe brain bleed and was bleeding internally into his lungs,” according to the affidavit.
He was flown to a Chicago hospital for treatment, according to the affidavit. He died Jan. 27, according to court records.
A maintenance worker at the facility on Melton Road said he was mopping the main dining room floor around 7 p.m. when “Craig approached him, was not wearing a shirt and was covered in blood,” according to the affidavit. Withrow said “that his roommate was bleeding,” according to the affidavit.
The maintenance worker and a nurse went to the room and found the victim “on the floor in a pool of blood,” and they called 911, according to the affidavit. The nurse gave aid to the victim, “who was barely breathing,” while the worker took Withrow “to a maintenance room where he waited for the police,” according to the affidavit.
Carte’s cause of death was an “intracerebral hemorrhage due to hypertensive cardiovascular disease with stress associated with an altercation as a contributing factor,” Cook County Medical Examiner spokeswoman Natalia Derevyanny said Friday.
Post-Tribune archives contributed.