Evaluation Ordered For Murder Suspect

Fri., Sept. 5, 1997

From Staff And Wire Reports

A woman charged with first-degree murder has been ordered by a Snohomish County judge to undergo a mental-health evaluation and stay away from alcohol after she overdosed on prescription drugs.

Superior Court Judge Ronald Castleberry issued the order Tuesday for Teresa Gaethe-Leonard, 33, who is free on $500,000 bail awaiting trial.

Gaethe-Leonard is accused of fatally shooting her estranged husband, middle school counselor Chuck Leonard, on Feb. 20.

She was hospitalized last Thursday after taking too many antidepressants but appeared in court Tuesday.

Deputy Prosecutor Michael Downes urged Castleberry to order Gaethe-Leonard locked up where she could be monitored.

But her lawyer, John Henry Browne, told the judge Gaethe-Leonard overdosed accidentally and presented a report from the hospital discounting suicide as a motive.

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