Court of Appeals stops Welty mental evaluation

The Missouri Court of Appeals Southern District ordered the stop of a psychiatric evaluation for a 13-year-old boy charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. Owen Welty of rural Bloomfield, Mo., is accused of the November murder of 64-year-old Don McCollough of Dexter. The pretrial psychiatric evaluation that was scheduled for April 13 at the Southeast Missouri Mental Health Facility in Farmington, Mo., was ordered March 9 by Stoddard County Judge Stephen Mitchell. Welty's attorney, Derrick Williams, filed a writ March 14; the court issued its order March 16. The Court of Appeals gave Mitchell until Monday to file written suggestions as to why the court should not put a permanent stop to the evaluation.

-- Dexter Daily Statesman