ASHLAND – Accused serial killer Shawn Grate will be evaluated for his competency to stand trial on Jan. 6, 2017.
Ashland County Common Pleas Judge Ronald P. Forsthoefel issued a judgment entry Monday afternoon ordering the evaluation, which will be conducted via Skype.
Grate, 40, has been indicted on 23 felony counts and could face the death penalty if found guilty.
Grate’s attorneys, Bob and Rolf Whitney, asked last month for $10,000 to hire Dr. John Fabian of Cleveland to perform an independent competency evaluation and possibly a not guilty by reason of insanity evaluation on Grate.
In his response, Ashland County Prosecutor Christopher Tunnell argued the court should deny the financial request because it would be an unnecessary burden on taxpayers since Grate has not been evaluated by the District V Forensic Diagnostic Center in Mansfield. In addition, Tunnell wrote, “the defense’s request includes a not guilty by reason of insanity evaluation, which, to date, has not been pled to and, therefore cannot be granted.”
Forsthoefel denied the request for an independent evaluation and ordered Grate to be evaluated at the Mansfield center.
The judge did grant the defense’s request for a mitigation specialist and ruled that the court would order $5,000 for a mitigation specialist, a move Tunnell opposed in his filing.
Grate was arrested Sept. 13 after a woman called 911 and said she was being held against her will in a home near East Fourth Street in Ashland. Upon their arrival, police found the woman and Grate. The woman is not being identified because she is a sexual assault victim and the Ashland County Prosecutor does not identify victims of sexual assault.
Grate was taken into custody and police and BCI investigators searched the two homes on Covert Court, near the Fourth Street Laundromat. Two bodies were discovered in one of the homes. The victims were identified as 43-year-old Stanley of Greenwich and 29-year old Griffith of Ashland.
Grate was indicted on a total of 23 counts including four counts of aggravated murder, four counts of kidnapping, two counts of gross abuse of a corpse, four counts of rape, four counts of burglary, and one count each of tampering with evidence, aggravate robbery, unauthorized use of a vehicle, robbery and breaking and entering. He is being held in Ashland County Jail on $1 million bond.
Grate pleaded not guilty to all 23 counts but also admitted to the killings in several interviews with Cleveland news stations before a gag order was imposed on all parties involved in the case.
Grate has also been tied to three other victims. After his arrest, Grate led investigators to a body in a wooded area near a burned-out home on Park Avenue East in Madison Township. Authorities identified the body earlier this month as 29-year-old Candace Cunningham of Canton, who reportedly was in a relationship with Grate.
Mansfield Police also have re-opened the investigation into the death of Mansfield resident Rebekah Leicy. Leicy was reported missing in February of 2015 and her body was found in rural Ashland County in March 2015. Her death was ruled as a probable drug overdose by the Cuyahoga County Coroner’s Office as there were no signs of physical trauma.
Grate has also been tied to a 2005 murder in Marion County. He reportedly admitted to authorities that he killed a woman there in 2005. On March 10, 2007, Marion County authorities discovered the remains of a woman who has never been identified. The Marion County Sheriff’s Office released a new sketch of the woman in October in a renewed effort to identify her.
