Teen suspect in mall stabbing to get mental health evaluation in Casper

CASPER, Wyo. — One of the teenagers charged with fatally stabbing 14-year-old Robert “Bobby” Maher Jr. at the Eastridge Mall on April 7 will receive a mental health evaluation in Casper, a Natrona County District Court judge ordered Wednesday

Jarreth Joseflee Sabstian Plunkett, 15, pleaded not guilty by reason of mental illness or deficiency, as well as a traditional not guilty plea, at his Natrona County District Court arraignment before Judge Catherine Wilking on June 21 .

Because of that plea, Plunkett is entitled to an evaluation at the Wyoming State Hospital in Evanston to determine whether he “lacked substantial capacity either to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of law,” as the relevant statute states.

While the evaluation is entitled, a dispute arose about where to conduct it.

At the hearing Wednesday, defense attorney Curtis Cheney said he wanted Plunkett to be admitted for an in-patient evaluation at the state hospital. Plunkett attended the hearing and wearing a red jumpsuit and handcuffed and shackled.

Prosecutors — District Attorney Dan Itzen and Chief Deputy District Attorney Blaine Nelson — wanted it held at the Natrona County Juvenile Detention Center.

But Cheney argued that conducting it at the state hospital would offer a more therapeutic environment where Plunkett “could let his guard down, so to speak” and be more forthcoming in evaluation sessions.

With Plunkett being evaluated on an in-patient basis, prosecution and law enforcement would not need to take him back and forth from Casper to Evanston and back, he added.

The Juvenile Detention Center also has its own issues with inmates yelling and being an uncomfortable environment for an evaluation, Cheney said. “The hope is he would be away from the chaos.”

In the conversations about the dispute, state hospital legal representative Jackson Matthew Engels said by videoconference that the state hospital would be impractical at the least.

In objecting to Cheney’s request for the in-patient evaluation, Itzen said an evaluation at the Juvenile Detention Center could be done much quicker. “I think we can get this done at the detention center and done in a fairly short order.”

Plunkett is in custody, charged as an adult and not likely to make his $500,000 cash-only bail, Itzen said.

Wilking agreed with the prosecution, noting that the Wyoming State Hospital cannot admit patients under 18, it doesn’t have the facilities to house them anyway, and the waiting time to be admitted on an in-patient basis ranges from nine to 12 months.

“That is an untenable time for me,” she said.

State hospital staff can conduct the evaluation and have as many sessions as needed, Wilking said.

“I note the objection by the defense and overrule it and order the evaluation at the Juvenile Detention Center,” she said.

She then told Itzen to prepare an order to that effect.

After the hearing, Itzen said the local evaluation could be done in 60 to 90 days.

If that report comes back saying Plunkett is competent to stand trial, the defense could request another one as allowed by law, he said.

If that report comes back saying Plunkett is not competent to stand trial, the prosecution could request another one, he added.

Regardless of the outcome of the evaluation or evaluations, the “not guilty by reason of mental illness or deficiency” will not be a defense and the case will go to trial, Itzen said.

After the hearing, Cheney declined to comment.

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Plunkett remains incarcerated and is presumed innocent until proven or pleading guilty.

Plunkett is charged on four counts, including first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and aggravated assault and battery. He is also charged with misdemeanor theft for allegedly stealing the murder weapon, a kitchen knife, from the Target store at the mall just before the deadly encounter.

Co-conspirator 15-year-old Dominique Harris, also charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on June 26. Investigators say Harris slammed Maher to the ground in the moments before Plunkett stabbed him. Plunkett reportedly told Harris two days before the homicide that he was going to “gut that dude.”

Harris’s five-day trial is scheduled to begin March 10. Itzen said Harris and Plunkett will be tried separately.

The case record shows that Plunkett knew Bobby Maher from school and that Plunkett had been upset at perceived slights in the weeks leading up to the killing.

His girlfriend and close friend were approached by the defendants in an alley on Friday, April 5. A video of that encounter was also played at the preliminary hearing. In it, Plunkett demands to know where the victim “is at.” He is heard referring to the victim with racial slurs and asking the friend if he wants to pay “[Maher’s] blood debt.”