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CLEVELAND (WJW) – A judge may soon decide if a hearing will be held in the murder case of Cleveland Officer Jamieson Ritter, even though the defendant, ruled incompetent to stand trial, remains in a mental health facility.
Assistant County Prosecutor Kevin Filiatraut is asking the judge to hold a hearing to determine when the restoration period must end.
Typically, a defendant must be restored in a year to stand trial on charges.
Prosecutors, however, said the defendant refused to take medicine that would restore him to competency for several months and prosecutors are asking for that time not to be counted.
“Here, the defendant was found not competent to stand trial in his Cleveland Municipal Court misdemeanor trespassing case which began in 2023,” Filiatraut’s motion states. “Just months before he allegedly killed his grandmother and Officer Ritter, the defendant was restored to competency in his misdemeanor case through outpatient treatment, but outside the short timeframe for the state to be able to continue with that particular prosecution. The standard for competency is the same no matter if the charges are misdemeanor trespass or aggravated murder. When he was arrested in this case, he immediately refused treatment – the same treatment he underwent in an outpatient setting that he knew would make him competent to stand trial now. He refused the treatment while in the Cuyahoga County jail and subsequently was deemed to be not competent to stand trial. He refused the treatment in the facility in Columbus and spent months unmedicated, waiting for his R.C. 2945.38(C(1) timeframe to run out like it did in the trespassing case. Since his arrest here, he never willingly allowed himself to be treated with medication that he knew would make him competent. And when this court ordered forced medication, his reaction to the hospital bringing that treatment to him was, ‘I guess I have to take it now.’”
Attorney Cullen Sweeney, Chief Public Defender, however, objected to the hearing being held.
“Courts across Ohio have opined on the question of what can and should be undertaken during the period of time that a defendant is under a competency restoration order pursuant to R.C. 2945.38, as Mr. Hardy is in this case,” Sweeney’s motion states. “The rule of law that has emerged is that proceedings are stayed during such a period. In 2006, the Ohio Supreme Court noted that ‘until an incompetent individual is found to be mentally competent, a criminal action must be halted, assuming that competency is restorable within the statutory period.’ State v. Upshaw, 110 Ohio St. 3d 189.”
Sweeney also states that if there is a hearing, Hardy has a right to present.
It is not known when the judge will make a ruling.
Hardy is accused of killing his grandmother and Ritter last year. The deadly shooting of the officer happened when police said Cleveland officers tried to arrest Hardy for shooting his grandmother. She later died.
Hardy has been ruled incompetent to stand trial, and he has spent months in a treatment facility so that he can be restored to competency.
Peggy Gallek
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