Thursday, December 20, 2012
The Georgetown murder suspect will represent himself before a jury at his March 25 trial.
Updated 1:30 p.m. Albrecht Muth will face a jury in March now that DC Superior Court Judge Russel F. Canan has found him competent to stand trial. Muth will represent himself. In announcing his finding, Canan said that Muth's actions within the justice system and during hospitalization at St. Elizabeths "speak louder than words" and are consistent with the history of manipulation presented by the prosecution during the past several days of the competency hearing. His history, said Canan, "outweighs" any examinations or tests that might suggest Muth is impaired. Muth, 48, was arraigned on the charge of first degree murder in the death of his wife Viola Drath, 91. Directly after being found competent, the court read Muth's arraignment, in …
Judge Russel F. Canan will hand down a decision about Georgetown murder suspect Albrecht Muth's mental competency in DC Superior Court Thursday.
Attorneys offered their final arguments Wednesday about whether Georgetown murder suspect Albrecht Muth is competent to stand trial, and now the decision rests with DC Superior Court Judge Russel F. Canan. Canan will give his decision Thursday morning, determining whether Muth will be civilly committed or will face a jury in March. Over the course of eight days, experts for the government and the prosecution weighed in on tests, interviews, reports and other information that will help Canan determine Muth's competence. Muth is accused of killing his late wife, Viola Drath, in August 2011 in their Q Street home in Georgetown. Muth claims to be an Iraqi general and that his wife's death was the result of an Iranian hit gone wrong. Patch has …
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Final witness testified Tuesday in seventh day of Albrecht Muth competency hearing.
Georgetown murder suspect Albrecht Muth's continued insistence on a defense strategy that hinges on the assertion he is an Iraqi General renders him incompetent to stand trial, a defense witness said Tuesday, the seventh day of Muth's competency hearing Dr. Stephen Lally, a psychologist, said Tuesday in DC Superior Court he believes Muth's consistent self-portrayal as an Iraqi General and his refusal to consider alternative defense options proposed by his public defenders, mean he cannot stand trial. An ability to work with counsel is one of the core elements in a finding of competency, he said. Judge Russel F. Canan will hear a re-direct of Lally by the public defender Laura Rose as well as arguments by both the prosecution and the …
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Report showed Georgetown murder suspect Albrecht Muth is competent to stand trial.
Despite efforts by the public defender to discredit him as an expert witness and have his report stricken from the record, Dr. Mitchell Hugonnet testimony and report — which say Georgetown murder suspect Albercht Muth is competent to stand trial — were permitted to remain in evidence Wednesday as Albrecht Muth's competency hearing continued. In his report released in August 2012, Hugonnet was the first medical expert to assert Muth is competent to stand trial for the murder of his wife, Viola Drath. Drath was found murdered in her Q Street NW home in August of 2011. Hugonnet wrote in his report Muth deliberately minimized his capabilities in intelligence tests and feigned being delusional. Get daily and breaking news email updates from …
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Defense witness Dr. David Schretlen testified Tuesday accused Georgetown murderer Albrecht Muth suffers from cognitive impairments.
Dr. David Schretlen said in a testimony Tuesday that accused Georgetown murderer Albrecht Muth has "serious impairment" in his cognitive functions -- but stopped short of elaborating on whether he thought Muth could stand trial. Schretlen, a neuropsychologist and faculty member at Johns Hopkins Medical School, did not offer an opinion on Muth's competence to stand trial despite acting as a witness for the defense during the competency hearing. Muth is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife Viola Drath, who was found dead in her Q Street NW home in August of 2011. "I think there's something wrong with this man's brain," Schretlen said at one point during his Tuesday testimony. When he was asked if he had an opinion on …
Jason Cain unwittingly moved in with Albrecht Muth and Viola Drath for two months in 2010.
Jason Cain, a man who lived in Viola Drath’s Q Street home 18 months before she was murdered, testified Tuesday in DC Superior Court about her accused murderer Albrecht Muth's self-proclaimed "influence operations." Albrecht Muth is in DC Superior Court this week for a competency hearing; he was indicted earlier this year for the murder of his wife. Get daily and breaking news email updates from Georgetown Patch by signing up for newsletters here. Cain, a former army logistics specialist, first came into contact with Muth in 2009 just before he left for his final tour in Iraq. He was looking for a place to stay while he participated in a program at Georgetown University and found a listing for a room for rent in Muth's Q Street home. He …
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Defense suggests Drath family, media influenced St. Elizabeths' doctors as competency hearing for Albrecht Muth continues this week in DC Superior Court.
Opinions from St. Elizabeths Hospital about whether accused Georgetown murderer Albrecht Muth is fit to stand trial have evolved since he was first to admitted to the hospital in February -- an evolution a doctor from the hospital defended Monday as Muth's defense suggested the hospital changed their position due to outside influences. Dr. Michele Godwin, a licensed clinical psychologist from St. Elizabeths Hospital, explained over the course of five hours of testimony Monday how her opinion on Muth's competency shifted since he was first to admitted to the hospital in February: as her team received information, it changed its opinions, she said. Muth is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife Viola Drath, who was found …
Monday, December 10, 2012
The judge set aside two and a half days this week to consider testimony on Albrecht Muth's competency to stand trial in Viola Drath's death.
Albrecht Muth will appear in DC Superior Court three days this week as the defense and prosecution make their cases about his competency to stand trial in the Viola Drath murder case scheduled for March. Last week expert witnesses offered their interpretations of Muth's behavior. Want to stay on top of news in Georgetown? Sign up for our daily or breaking news emails. Dr. Robert Phillips testified for the prosecution that Muth is a narcissist who is fully capable of standing trial. Dr. Shawn Agharkar testified for the defense that Muth is delusional and therefore incompetent to assist in his own defense. Last week Agharkar testified that Muth's fixation on using a defense based on his status of an Iraqi general is proof positive that he …
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Experts will continue to testify next week about Albrecht Muth's competency to stand trial for the Viola Drath murder case.
Medical experts Tuesday continued their testimony about murder suspect Albrecht Muth's mental faculties and his ability to stand trial. Judge Russell F. Canan will hear arguments and decide if Muth is competent to face a jury in March. Muth's late wife, Viola Drath, was found dead in their Georgetown home in August 2011. Muth is being held at St. Elizabeths mental hospital and is charged with her death. Monday and Tuesday two experts, one for the defense and one for the prosecution, offered starkly different interpretations of Muth's behavior and his ability to face the charges against him in court. Dr. Shawn Agharkar, an expert brought in by Muth's defense team, said Muth is delusional and not competent to stand trial. "Muth is factually …
Monday, December 3, 2012
In first day of hearing, one expert says Georgetown murder defendant Albrecht Muth made "clear choice,"another says he's delusional.
Judge Russel Canan will decide this week between two starkly different interpretations of Albrecht Muth's competence to stand trial: Is he a lying narcissist or a delusional liar? Muth, who is being held at St. Elizabeths mental hospital, is charged in the August 2011 death of his wife, Viola Drath. The couple lived in a townhouse on Q Street in Georgetown until Drath’s murder. Whether he'll be able to face charges for that crime, though, is something upon which medical experts have yet to agree. During a five-hour first day of a competency hearing Monday, the prosecution offered a short audio clip of a conversation between Muth and Dr. Robert Phillips, who for months has argued Muth is competent to stand trial. In the recordings, Muth can…
gary
12:39 am on Thursday, March 14, 2013
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