Prosecutors oppose competency exam for death-row inmate Marvin Gabrion
GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Federal prosecutors oppose a defense request that condemned killer Marvin Gabrion undergo a competency evaluation.
His attorneys contend he is incompetent and unable to assist in proceedings.
Gabrion's mental-health status has been an issue from the start of his case until now.
He was convicted in the 1997 killing of Rachel Timmerman, 19, of Cedar Springs.
He is suspected of killing her 11-month-old daughter, Shannon, whose body wasn't found, and three of his associates.
Gabrion has exhausted criminal appeals but has filed a civil challenge to his conviction and sentence.
Federal prosecutors say Gabrion has no legal right to competency evaluations in the civil appeal.
"His conduct before and during the trial caused the district court to order three competency evaluations," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer McManus wrote in court records.
"Each time he was found not only competent, but a malingerer; five other mental health professionals would later agree. Gabrion's motion merely asserts that he is exhibiting the same type of erratic behavior; it does not identify a diagnosis, a course of proposed treatment, or attach a declaration of a mental health professional.
"Moreover, Gabrion's current counsel have not shown his claims could substantially benefit from his assistance," McManus wrote.
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has found Gabrion severely mentally ill but not incompetent.
Because Timmerman's body was found in a lake on federal property, Gabrion was tried in federal court, which allows juries to sentence defendants to death.
His attorneys filed a comprehensive report that examined Gabrion and four generations of his family. It looked at instances of mental illness, abuse, poverty, violence and substance abuse.
His attorneys say he was incompetent at trial, and his condition hasn't improved during his stay on death row. His attorneys say he should undergo an adversarial hearing - which wasn't demanded by his trial attorney - to determine his level of competency, records said.
Gabrion killed Timmerman two days before she was to testify that he raped her in 1996.
She was bound to cinderblocks and thrown into Oxford Lake, a remote area in Newaygo County.
Gabrion's bizarre behavior was on full display at trial: he whispered loudly, became agitated, belched and had to be told repeatedly by his attorney and the judge to be quiet.
On the witness stand, he declared: "I am the speaker of the truth."
During the penalty stage, he punched his attorney in the face in front of jurors.
Gabrion's filing asks for his conviction or sentence be vacated, or to receive a new trial.
His attorneys have sought a stay to hold a hearing on his competency.
They describe him as "actively delusional," and said his competency could be restored with medication.
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