WARSAW, N.Y. (AP) - Whether a New York woman is competent to stand trial for allegedly killing her husband with a pitchfork and rifle will be the subject of a court hearing amid doctors’ differing opinions.
Wyoming County District Attorney Donald O’Geen said Friday that a hearing is tentatively set for Feb. 11 after the prosecution’s doctor found Charlene Mess competent, in contradiction with defense doctors’ findings.
Mess has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and related charges in the death of Douglas Mess on the couple’s Attica farm last year.
Searchers found the body of the 52-year-old victim buried in manure. Investigators say he’d been hit with a pitchfork and killed by a .22-caliber rifle shot to the back of his head.
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