Stoddard County murder suspect ordered to return to jail after mental evaluation

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- Eight days after ordering a Bernie, Mo., woman to be committed to a mental health facility to determine her competency to stand trial for the brutal stabbing death of another man, a Stoddard County judge has reversed that decision.

Presiding Circuit Judge Stephen Sharp issued an order last week vacating his Aug. 22 order, which had directed the Stoddard County Sheriff's Department to transport Angela McCoy to the Fulton State Hospital, a division of the Department of Mental Health, for "such a period as may be necessary to determine the issue of her mental fitness to proceed."

McCoy, 39, and her 37-year-old husband, Allen McCoy, are charged with first-degree murder, first-degree robbery and two counts of armed criminal action in connection with Aubury Lee Finch's death on June 28, 2010. If convicted of the murder charge, the McCoys could be sentenced to

death.

Finch, 67, was found dead inside his Bernie home after authorities received information from witnesses indicating Allen McCoy had told them he had stabbed the man several times, as well as robbed

him.

Sharp issued his order after considering a motion to set aside a requirement for a specific location of psychiatric evaluation and confinement at Fulton State Hospital filed by Denise Thomas, an attorney for the Department of Mental Health, and an affidavit from Dr. Jeffrey Kline, a licensed psychologist.

In his order, Sharp said:

"... the court finds there is no psychiatric need, which requires [McCoy] to be admitted on an inpatient basis at any psychiatric facility.

"At this time, [McCoy] is not an imminent danger to herself or others. Further inpatient hospitalization of [McCoy] is not needed."

Sharp ordered McCoy be discharged from the Department of Mental Health. She was returned to the Stoddard County Jail on

Thursday.

Fulton State Hospital and Missouri Department of Mental Health officials, Sharp said, may conduct their examination of McCoy at such time and place and under such conditions as determined by the director or his

designee.

In her motion, Thomas said, the Department of Mental Health director and director of forensic services requested the required psychiatric evaluation of McCoy not be conducted on an inpatient basis at the Fulton State Hospital and that McCoy not be kept there.

Thomas cited Sharp's original order in which he said a report concerning the McCoy's mental condition was "necessary to determine the issue of her mental fitness to proceed," and she "presently needed to be committed to a suitable mental facility pending determination of her present competence."

Sharp had ordered the Department of Mental Health keep McCoy in the Fulton State Hospital and provide her with treatment "deemed medically necessary and appropriate" until further ordered by the court.

According to Thomas, the Department of Mental Health does not "routinely require such evaluations be conducted on an inpatient basis," but will do so "if the psychiatric needs of the defendant so require."

Thomas said Kline interviewed McCoy on Aug. 26.

"Based upon Dr. Kline's assessment, there is no psychiatric need which requires (McCoy) to be admitted on an inpatient basis at any psychiatric facility," Thomas said.

Citing the information from Kline's attached affidavit, Thomas said, McCoy was alert, coherent, rational and in good contact with reality.

"(She) was well oriented to person, time and place," Thomas said. "Her immediate, recent and remote memory functions were intact.

"She has a simple psychiatric history, with only one or two inpatient hospitalizations, both of which were several years ago."

McCoy, Thomas said, had been stable on medication with an outpatient provider before her arrest.

"When medicated in the Stoddard County Jail, she was placed on a different medication than she had been taking, and saw an increase in symptoms," Thomas said.

The treatment team at Fulton State Hospital, Thomas said, assessed McCoy and made modifications to her medications "to return them to those on which she was stable in the community, and has determined that further inpatient hospitalization is not needed."

In her interview with Kline, Thomas said, McCoy reported she was "depressed, but not suicidal, and feeling better with the medication change."

Kline, Thomas said, is "of the opinion" that McCoy is "not an imminent danger to herself or others" at this time.

Thomas said mental health officials will "assure that any further interviews can be conducted at Metropolitan Psychiatric Center and, if necessary, will take place at the earliest possible appointment."

Sharp issued his original order after the defense, represented by Janice Zembles and Charles Moreland with the Capital Public Defender's Office in Columbia, Mo., filed a motion for a mental evaluation of competence to proceed and a motion to commit the accused to a suitable mental facility until further order of the court.

In support of their motion to have McCoy committed, the attorneys said, their client was evaluated on Aug. 10 by Dr. A.E. Daniel "for the purpose of assessing Ms. McCoy's present mental status."

Following his evaluation, the attorneys said, Daniel "warned" them that McCoy "is currently at substantial suicide risk," was not being properly medicated, needed immediate hospitalization in a psychiatric unit and needed her medications adjusted in a hospital setting.

After Sharp's most recent order, McCoy's attorneys withdrew their earlier motion seeking a mental evaluation of competence to proceed.

Sharp subsequently vacated his order directing the Department of Mental Health evaluate McCoy.

Pertinent address:

Bloomfield, MO

Bernie, MO