Accused Killer of 5 Judged Unfit to Stand Trial

A man accused of killing five people during a racially motivated shooting spree last month was deemed incompetent to stand trial Thursday.

A judge ordered Richard Scott Baumhammers, 34, transferred to a state hospital for treatment. Psychiatrists will report again in 90 days on his competence.

Baumhammers, who is white, is charged with murder and hate crimes in the shooting deaths of a Jewish woman, an Indian man and two Asian men in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. He could remain hospitalized indefinitely if deemed unfit.

“Personally, I would be surprised if he were not brought to trial within a reasonable amount of time,” said William Difenderfer, Baumhammers’ lawyer.

Three court-appointed psychiatrists testified that Baumhammers, who briefly ran a Web site opposing immigration from Third World countries to the United States, was incompetent to aid in his defense.

Prosecutors argued in Baumhammers’ competence hearing that the suspect appeared to be withholding information from the doctors who interviewed him. The prosecution asked the judge to allow a psychiatrist hired by the district attorney to examine Baumhammers, but Baumhammers’ attorneys refused.

Dr. David Ness, a psychiatrist who interviewed Baumhammers, testified Wednesday that Baumhammers had an “eerie” emotional detachment, was paranoid and thought he had been poisoned during trips to Europe.

Baumhammers was treated in 1993 and last year for mental illness, though his attorneys would not say what the illnesses were.