BOULDER – A judge has paused court proceedings against a 95-year-old man charged with shooting and killing a maintenance worker at his assisted living center so he can undergo an evaluation to determine if he is competent to stand trial.
According to court records, attorneys filed a motion on April 26 to have Okey Payne's competency evaluated and a judge ordered a mental health stay on the case in the meantime, the Daily Camera reported Tuesday.
If Payne is found incompetent to be able to help in his defense, proceedings would continue to be stayed until he can be restored to competency or the judge rules that he is unlikely to ever be able to stand trial.
After the shooting in February at Legacy Assisted Living in Lafayette, 22 miles north of Denver, investigators say Payne said he was tired of staff members stealing money from him and decided to shoot Ricardo Medina-Rojas, 44, to make the thefts stop.
Police previously investigated Payne's allegations of theft but did not find any evidence to back up his claims.
