Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Dennis Adkins said he will hand down a ruling on the prosecution’s request for the court to retain jurisdiction over Marlow as soon as possible, but could not provide an estimate for when that may happen.
Adkins ruled on a separate motion in Marlow’s case last week, asserting he remains incompetent to stand trial, and further that he cannot be restored to competency within the one-year statutory restoration period, which ends in January.
“… (I)t is clear to the court that although the defendant is intelligent and understands the legal process, his decisions with respect to this case and his defense are motivated solely by his delusional belief system,” Adkins wrote in that ruling.
Adkins opined in the Dec. 23 ruling that Marlow shows “significant lack of rational understanding regarding the offenses at issue,” and that his decision-making is driven by his delusional belief system.
Since January of this year, Marlow has been confined to Summit Behavioral Healthcare in Cincinnati, where he’s received treatment, most recently for delusional disorder once his diagnosis was changed.
“… (T)he evidence and testimony before the court demonstrates that defendant is not motivated by the possibility of exoneration or freedom from incarceration and, instead, defendant’s focus appears to be on alerting the public about the existence of a terrorist sect that is engaging in mind control,” the judge wrote.
Now, the court must determine Marlow’s fate as an incompetent and unrestorable defendant.
As part of its motion to retain jurisdiction, Montgomery County Prosecutor Mat Heck Jr. has the burden of proof to clearly show that Marlow both committed the offense he’s charged with and that he is a mentally ill person subject to court order.
The court will take into consideration psychological evaluations of the defendant, which were completed throughout Marlow’s time at Summit, along with evidence presented Monday by Heck and his team.
Court exhibits, some of which had not yet been made public, included surveillance footage, autopsy reports, crime scene photos, witness testimony and cellphone evidence.
Family members of the victims were warned and given the opportunity to leave the courtroom prior to the presentation of graphic surveillance footage obtained from a security camera in the Anderson garage.
A few family members chose to exit the courtroom during the presentation, while the majority stayed put.
A video segment, which had no sound, showed Sarah Anderson talking on her cellphone in the open garage before she was approached by man alleged by prosecutors to be Marlow.
Hushed gasps and muffled crying could be heard from the courtroom’s gallery as the video continued, capturing the shooting of the 41-year-old woman.
Brett Anderson, husband to Sarah and father of Kayla, who was seated in the front row of the gallery, kept his head down for the duration of the video.
Marlow sat at the defendant’s desk with his lawyers, two armed sheriff’s deputies close by, and showed no obvious emotion while the video played.
He appeared calm and attentive throughout the hearing, at times resting his chin on his hand.
Prosecutors called one witness to the stand, Butler Twp. Police Department detective Jesse West, who answered questions about the investigation into the crime spree that shocked the Butler Twp. community.
During a forensic search of Marlow’s cellphone, investigators found web search history results from just days before the shooting, many of which implied premeditation, West said.
“(The defendant) took great steps to internet search a lot of various things; not only the planning of the crime, but also the commission of the crime … planning his escape, carrying out his escape, and even some things that are suggestive of planning a contingency in the event that he was apprehended,” West testified.
Searches included questions about how long it takes police to establish a suspect following a crime, whether fugitives on the run should take the highway or back roads, how to get a job as a fugitive, whether cellphones can be tracked, and whether a defendant would benefit from pleading not guilty by reason of insanity, among other things.
West also testified to statements from witnesses who described and positively identified Marlow as the suspect in the crime.
Marlow’s defense declined to cross examine West. However, all pieces of evidence presented during Monday’s hearing were stipulated as fact by both the defense and prosecution. Those stipulations apply only to this specific hearing.
Kelly Brockman, father of Sarah Anderson and grandfather of Kayla, gave a victim’s impact statement on behalf of the both the Anderson and Knox families.
“It must be understood that our family has been given a life sentence of traumatic grief we know will never go away. The depth of this loss can be described in simple words: we are not the same people we were before Aug. 5, 2022,” he said.
Brockman described the ways in which their loss has affected every aspect of their lives.
“As we navigate this path we never chose, we are becoming accustomed to changes in social relationships with friends and acquaintances distancing themselves from us because they do not know how to relate to us anymore,” he said. “Waking up each morning knowing that we are living with the emptiness of our loved ones no longer being here is overwhelming beyond measure; grief, depression, anxiety, pain, lack of joy (and) lack of happiness are now our reality.
“… At a minimum, we hope that the accused is locked up in a secure facility for the rest of his life without any chance of parole,” Brockman concluded.
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