Suspect In Killings To Get Second Mental Evaluation

A second mental examination has been approved for an Oregon man accused of three murders.

The second evaluation was ordered Friday for Ernest Taber, 70, of Pendleton, Ore. It would be independent of a state exam that found him competent to stand trial.

Defense attorneys Dan Arnold and Kevin Holt disagree with the state psychiatric examination conducted at Eastern State Hospital.

Taber’s family has described him as mentally retarded, illiterate and easily confused.

The Eastern State Hospital exam concluded Taber has the intellect of a 10- to 12-year-old because of complications at his birth.

But the report said Taber was capable of planning daily activities and was competent to stand trial.

If developmental disabilities become a factor in determining Taber’s fitness to stand trial, Benton County Prosecutor Andy Miller said he might request another state evaluation of Taber.

Taber is accused of killing Cindy Lou Eaves, 35, of Plymouth and her 3-year-old son, Bernard, in 1991, and 6-year-old Galen Michael of Hermiston, Ore., this fall. The bodies were found in September buried in southern Benton County.

Taber was questioned shortly after the mother and son disappeared, but no arrest was made, authorities have said.

Investigators believe Taber got into an argument with Eaves in her rented mobile home in July or August of 1991 and struck her with a club or big stick.

Taber then allegedly took the mother’s body and her son to an isolated area upstream of McNary Dam. Taber then struck the boy with a club or stick and buried the bodies, authorities allege.

Prosecutors allege Taber killed Galen Sept. 13 while the pair were on a fishing trip. He had befriended Galen and his mother, Tamara Michael, 30, investigators said.