This means Marlow could still stand trial for the August 2022 murder of Clyde W. Knox, 82; his wife, Eva “Sally” Knox, 78; Sarah J. Anderson, 41; and her daughter, Kayla E. Anderson, 15.
Marlow, 42, was ruled late last year to be incompetent to stand trial and unable to be restored to competency within the one-year statutory period, which ended this month.
A hearing tentatively scheduled for June will determine next steps in the case, which began on Aug. 5, 2022, when Marlow is accused of killing four of his former Butler Twp. neighbors before fleeing the state.
“An initial six-month mandatory hearing shall be held on or about June 30, 2025, to determine whether defendant continues to be incompetent to stand trial and subject to continued hospitalization by court order,” Adkins said in his ruling.
Adkins ordered staff at Summit to prepare a written report within those six months containing a diagnosis and prognosis for Marlow, along with his past treatment, a list of alternative treatment settings and plans, and an “identification of the treatment setting that is the least restrictive consistent with the patient’s treatment needs.”
Credit: Aimee Hancock
Credit: Aimee Hancock
This newest development leaves the family of Brett Anderson, whose wife Sarah and daughter Kayla were killed in the murder spree, in a state of ongoing emotional limbo, he said Saturday.
“Our family is really frustrated,” Anderson said. “While this new ruling was expected, we should never have even had to get to this point ... we’re no closer to a trial now than we were 2 1/2 years ago.”
The ruling comes nearly a month after an emotional December court hearing during which Heck and his prosecution team presented several previously unreleased pieces of evidence as part of its argument for criminal jurisdiction.
Court exhibits included autopsy reports, crime scene photos, witness testimony, cellphone evidence, and graphic surveillance footage obtained from a security camera in the Anderson garage which captured the murder of Sarah Anderson.
Brett Anderson, who attended the December hearing, expressed frustration after hearing the evidence, which also included a deeper look into Marlow’s actions prior to and following the murders.
One such court exhibit indicated a forensic search of Marlow’s cellphone showed web search history results from just days before the shooting that included questions about how long it takes police to establish a suspect following a crime, whether fugitives on the run should take the highway or back roads, how to get a job as a fugitive, whether cellphones can be tracked, and whether a defendant would benefit from pleading not guilty by reason of insanity, among other things.
“... It’s clear to all of us that he’s competent to stand trial, and now we have to wait another six months for the next step, whatever that is,” Anderson said Saturday. “... We want nothing more than to put this part behind us, but there doesn’t seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel.”
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