Therriault To Stand Trial For 2 Killings Ruling Says Suspect Competent Despite Mental Problems

Despite an IQ of 69 and severe memory problems, K.C. Therriault is competent to stand trial for the murder of a Waverly couple, a judge ruled Friday.

After reviewing state laws defining competence, Judge Kathleen O’Connor decided the 20-year-old Therriault understands the charges against him and can assist in his defense.

“I’m convinced Mr. Therriault knows what’s at stake here,” O’Connor said following three days of testimony in Spokane County Superior Court.

The ruling allows prosecutors to put Therriault on trial later this year for the murders of Allen Mattausch, 66, and Gertrude Mattausch, 63.

If convicted of aggravated first-degree murder, he faces life imprisonment without chance of parole.

Therriault admits breaking into the Mattausch farmhouse with 21-year-old Cheyenne Brown on Jan. 23, 1997. The men had been hired by the couple to do odd jobs.

During an early morning robbery, Therriault used a hunting rifle while Brown used a shotgun to kill the elderly couple in their bedroom, they later told police.

Brown pleaded guilty to the murders last year in order to avoid the death penalty. He’s now serving a mandatory life sentence.

While O’Connor ruled Therriault must stand trial, she sharply criticized Eastern State Hospital, where the defendant had spent more than 100 days last year for mental evaluation.

Two Eastern State psychologists testified during the competency hearing that they talked with him several times during his stay about what happens in a courtroom.

One psychologist also showed Therriault the Paul Newman film, “The Verdict,” and asked him if he understood it.

But O’Connor said the psychiatric hospital failed to provide her with adequate records detailing what progress, if any, Therriault was making.

“I would hope this problem is corrected in the future,” she said.

Despite poor documentation, O’Connor concluded that Therriault passes the state’s tough competency standard.

Under state law, a person is competent to face criminal charges if he knows the nature of the proceedings and can assist his attorney.

Legal competence is different than legal insanity. An insanity defense tries to establish a mental state or disease that makes a person innocent of a criminal act.

Convicted Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski was found competent to stand trial. But his attorneys would have argued he was legally insane when he manufactured mail bombs that killed three and wounded 29 people. Kaczynski entered a guilty plea instead of going to trial.

Therriault’s defense attorney, Dick Sanger, wanted him declared incompetent because he is mentally retarded, suffering from brain damage caused during a troubled childhood.

“When we looked into his past, we found a kid who had it hard from Day One: brutalization, sexual abuse, beatings, foster care,” Sanger said.

If found incompetent, Therriault would have been placed in supervised care until the state decided he posed no danger to others.

After his arrest, Therriault spent 15 days at Eastern State and was initially found incompetent. Hospital officials said he needed to spend another 90 days in their program designed to make people legally competent.

“In the end, all he learned was how to parrot answers they gave him about who a judge is, who his attorney is,” Sanger said.

Sanger said Therriault has told him he took part in the murders because he was afraid Brown would kill him if he didn’t.

The defense attorney questioned why psychologist Timm Fredrickson showed Therriault “The Verdict” since his client’s responses to the film weren’t recorded.

Fredrickson testified Friday he asked Therriault questions about the movie. “He said he liked it but didn’t understand all the parts.”

Sanger said the film is one of many examples of meetings between hospital staff and Therriault that weren’t documented.

“They gave us no way of measuring this progress they say happened,” the attorney said.

The prosecutor pushing Therriault to trial agreed with Sanger that the state standard for competence is “very minimal.”

State law has permitted people with IQs as low as 49 to face criminal charges, said Deputy Prosecutor Jack Driscoll. The average adult has an IQ of 100.

But Driscoll said Therriault, in his conversations with psychologists at Eastern State, had clear knowledge of the crimes and charges.

“He knew he couldn’t get the death penalty. He said he preferred a lesser sentence than life. It’s fair to say he knows what he’s facing,” Driscoll said.

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