Suspect’s Outburst Leads to Competency Testing
A 47-year-old Ventura murder suspect refused to come to court Monday, then screamed and ranted in a holding cell as the jury waited in the courthouse hallway.
Tommy Welch’s outburst prompted Superior Court Judge James Cloninger to call a three-day recess to allow mental health experts to determine whether Welch is competent to stand trial.
Welch spent two years in a state mental institution before doctors decided he was competent to assist in his defense against charges that he strangled his 45-year-old girlfriend, Marsha Rockvam, in August 1997 in Ventura.
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