Judge says triple Danville murder suspect is competent to stand trial
The hearing lasted only about 30 minutes but the judge says Kenneth Keith is competent to stand trial.
His former attorney was on the one who asked for the mental evaluation.
Media wasn’t allowed in the courtroom for privacy so details of why the judge says he can stand trial are unknown.
Keith is accused of killing Michael and Angel Hockensmith and their customer, Daniel Smith, inside ABC Gold, Games and More in Danville September 2013.
The prosecutor is confident the case will now move forward despite several delays, including the murder of Keith’s first lawyer, Mark Stanziano.
“Initially in the case, unfortunately Mr. Stanziano lost his life and then as we progressed through the case, now the capital crime unit with the Department of Public Advocacy has the case, so they had to start anew with the discovery, so there’s been some delays,” said Richard Bottoms, Commonwealth’s attorney.
Bottoms says this is a death penalty case but he doesn’t expect a trial to start until next year, at the earliest.
Keith is due back in court for a hearing in September.
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