LIMA — Judge Jeffrey Reed of Allen County Common Pleas Court took under advisement on Monday a motion from the attorney of a Lima man requesting that his client’s jailhouse confession in the beating of another man not be admitted as evidence in his felonious assault case.
Reed said the case is one of the most “unique” he has heard in his tenure on the bench, in part because the defendant has already been deemed not competent to stand trial.
Travis Worthy, 35, is charged with severely beating Ronald Meola with a nunchaku — a martial arts weapon — at a party at 129 Hillary St. in Lima on May 13.
Meola on Monday testified he still suffers regular headaches as a result of what he said was an unprovoked attack during a party where all or most of those in attendance were drinking heavily.
During a hearing in August it was determined Worthy was incompetent to stand trial because of his “intellectual disability,” a determination made by state mental health officials. Those same officials said Worthy’s mental incompetency was “not restorable.”
For those reasons, defense attorney Gregory Donohue argued during Monday’s hearing that a taped confession obtained from Worthy by Lima Police Department Detective Sean Neidemire should be disallowed as evidence in the case.
“If he [Worthy] is a mentally ill/intellectually disabled individual, which the state has argued that he is, to suggest that he has the mental capacity to voluntarily waive his rights” and submit to the interrogation by Neidemire “has no credibility,” Donohue argued.
Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Kenneth Sturgill said it is the state’s position that Worthy committed the crime in question and that he represents “a threat to the community and the physical harm to others.” Sturgill asked the court to have the defendant committed to the Northwest Ohio Psychiatric Hospital in Toledo.
Donohue said, “I don’t believe the state presented clear and convincing evidence that the defendant did commit these offenses.”
Reed, in taking the case under advisement, said he needed to research several facets of the law as they pertain to the unique facts in the case before making a ruling on how the case will move forward.
