Suspect in fatal shooting deemed unfit for trial; treatment ordered
A woman charged with shooting two people on the lower South Hill late last year must undergo involuntary mental health treatment at Eastern State Hospital after a doctor determined she was unfit to stand trial.
The order, issued March 1 by Superior Court Judge Michael Price, requires 24-year-old Anne Carpenter to enter treatment for 90 days at the hospital, and she will be required to take medication. According to a mental health evaluation completed in February, Dr. William Grant diagnosed the defendant with paranoid schizophrenia and found she is “not competent to stand trial.”
“She did not know what ‘prosecutor’ meant. She did not want to answer questions about the pleas available to her, whether she could be required to testify against herself, if she would be required to submit to cross examination if she testified,” Grant wrote in his report.
Carpenter is accused of killing Danette Kane, owner of the Westview Manor apartment complex, and shooting the complex’s manager Michael Troy. He is now blind. Police say she fired on the two Dec. 19. She was arrested days later after a city-wide police search located her near the NorthTown Mall with a 9mm handgun tucked in her waist.
Court records say the killing may have been motivated by Carpenter’s father facing eviction, though the Kane family denied having any knowledge of the situation. Troy said in February that Carpenter’s father was a nuisance at times, but it was nothing that would amount to eviction.
According to Grant’s report, Carpenter had been diagnosed as schizophrenic in 2013, when she was living with her mother in Oahu, Hawaii. She was prescribed medication, her mother told detectives, but she refused to take it.
Another court hearing is scheduled for June 29. Attorneys will argue whether treatment has worked and if Carpenter may be ready to work with her lawyers.
Because Carpenter was not receptive to questioning, Grant instead relied on detective interviews with several of her family members about the 24-year-old’s condition. Her mother, Mary Ann Daquiwag, sister and grandmother all reported that Carpenter had a relatively normal childhood but then in her later teens, started exhibiting symptoms of paranoia.
“Mary Ann described the fact that Anne would get angry with herself and would literally have arguments with herself,” a detective wrote. “Mary Ann told me that she believes that Anne’s mental illness is getting worse.”
Carpenter’s sister Joanna Carpenter, who lives in Los Angeles, said that in early 2017 her sister’s condition appeared to be getting worse, but when she spoke to her on the phone later that year she was “pleasant and was not having as many delusions.”
In 2015, after moving back and forth between Oahu to be with her mother and to Spokane to be near her father, Carpenter moved to Pennsylvania to live with her grandmother Loretta Carpenter.
Loretta told detectives that her granddaughter was in denial about her mental health issues and “did not show up with any medication,” according to Grant’s report. Loretta reported small issues at first, but then after a few months, said Carpenter’s mental health was deteriorating to the point where she would accuse Loretta of being a sexual predator and would shout racial slurs at her and other dark-skinned people in public.
Court records say that Loretta arranged for someone from a mental health assistance center to speak to Carpenter at her residence, but Carpenter refused help. After the counselor left, she said Carpenter “went off on her and was angry” that she asked for help.
“Loretta told me that she had deal with Anne for six months, that she could no longer deal with Anne’s mental health issues,” detectives wrote. “Loretta then told Anne that she needed to move out of her residence.”
When interviewed on Feb. 13 by Grant, Carpenter replied to nearly every question with “I don’t want to answer,” Grant reported.
Grant said Carpenter’s attorney, Stephanie Cady, at the Counsel for Defense, experienced similar treatment.