Post by KC on Mar 12, 2006 23:30:40 GMT -5
03/11/2006 - ADRIAN - A jury trial is to start Tuesday after a judge rejected a last-minute insanity defense motion by a fired Lenawee County sheriff's deputy accused of making fraudulent checks using driver's licenses of drunken drivers he arrested.
“There is no basis for an insanity defense. There is no basis to adjourn these trials,” Judge Harvey A. Koselka stated in a written opinion on the motion by Timothy Allen Holtz Sr., 48.
Holtz was arrested a year ago after an investigation of forged checks passed in Washtenaw County led Michigan State Police to him. He pleaded guilty in Washtenaw County Circuit Court and was sentenced to five years of probation on Aug. 30.
In October, Holtz was charged in Lenawee County with 64 counts of identity theft, forgery, passing bad checks, larceny from a person and misconduct charges. The cases involve checks allegedly made on Holtz's home computer and passed in Adrian, Dundee and Toledo during 2003 and 2004. The checks totaled more than $11,000.
A motion to delay his trial to allow an insanity defense to be raised was filed March 1 and heard on Monday.
Defense attorney Stanley Sala of Adrian told the court Monday he learned only a week before that an Adrian psychologist Holtz is seeing believes he may not have been legally responsible for his actions. Psychologist Michael G. Dodson stated in a letter to the court that Holtz was suffering from depression and physical ailments and was influenced by medications he was taking at the time of the check offenses.
In his written opinion, Koselka noted that granting a motion to allow an insanity defense would probably mean adjourning the trial to September to allow state psychologists to evaluate him.
“The untimely filing of this motion to adjourn trial might be an indication that such was filed as a delaying tactic,” Koselka said.
The insanity issue was not raised during Holtz's prosecution last year in Washtenaw County or when the prosecution asked last month to delay the trial two weeks from a Feb. 28 trial date.
Koselka said Dodson does not appear to have expertise in the legal issues of criminal insanity.
“There is also nothing in the Dodson letter to even indicate that defendant Holtz has a mental illness or mental retardation, and as a result, lacked substantial capacity either to appreciate the nature and quality or wrongfulness of his conduct, or to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law,” Koselka's ruling stated.
Defense motions to dismiss some of the charges against Holtz and bar the prosecution from using a confession Holtz gave to state police were rejected last month.
“There is no basis for an insanity defense. There is no basis to adjourn these trials,” Judge Harvey A. Koselka stated in a written opinion on the motion by Timothy Allen Holtz Sr., 48.
Holtz was arrested a year ago after an investigation of forged checks passed in Washtenaw County led Michigan State Police to him. He pleaded guilty in Washtenaw County Circuit Court and was sentenced to five years of probation on Aug. 30.
In October, Holtz was charged in Lenawee County with 64 counts of identity theft, forgery, passing bad checks, larceny from a person and misconduct charges. The cases involve checks allegedly made on Holtz's home computer and passed in Adrian, Dundee and Toledo during 2003 and 2004. The checks totaled more than $11,000.
A motion to delay his trial to allow an insanity defense to be raised was filed March 1 and heard on Monday.
Defense attorney Stanley Sala of Adrian told the court Monday he learned only a week before that an Adrian psychologist Holtz is seeing believes he may not have been legally responsible for his actions. Psychologist Michael G. Dodson stated in a letter to the court that Holtz was suffering from depression and physical ailments and was influenced by medications he was taking at the time of the check offenses.
In his written opinion, Koselka noted that granting a motion to allow an insanity defense would probably mean adjourning the trial to September to allow state psychologists to evaluate him.
“The untimely filing of this motion to adjourn trial might be an indication that such was filed as a delaying tactic,” Koselka said.
The insanity issue was not raised during Holtz's prosecution last year in Washtenaw County or when the prosecution asked last month to delay the trial two weeks from a Feb. 28 trial date.
Koselka said Dodson does not appear to have expertise in the legal issues of criminal insanity.
“There is also nothing in the Dodson letter to even indicate that defendant Holtz has a mental illness or mental retardation, and as a result, lacked substantial capacity either to appreciate the nature and quality or wrongfulness of his conduct, or to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law,” Koselka's ruling stated.
Defense motions to dismiss some of the charges against Holtz and bar the prosecution from using a confession Holtz gave to state police were rejected last month.