Trial clock resumes for Evansville teen accused of murder after state hospital evaluation 

CASPER, Wyo. — The state hospital evaluation is in for Jarreth Joseflee Sebastian Plunkett, the 15-year-old accused of planning and carrying out the fatal stabbing of 14-year-Bobby Maher at the Eastridge Mall on a Sunday afternoon last April. At a hearing in the case on Wednesday, Plunkett’s public defender, Curtis Cheney, told Judge Catherine Wilking that they would not seek a second evaluation.

Last summer, Plunkett entered a dual plea of not guilty and not guilty by reason of mental illness or deficiency. The relevant statute states that Plunkett would not be responsible for the crime if, at the time, he “lacked substantial capacity either to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of law” due to a mental illness or deficiency. 

The trial clock was paused so that the Wyoming State Hospital could carry out a forensic evaluation of criminal liability. This is “a retrospective analysis of the accused’s mindset at the time of the alleged crime,” as described by WSH Dr. Jackson Engels in a transcript of a Sept. 18 status conference.

Court records indicated that the evaluation was carried out where Plukett is being held at the Juvenile Detention Center on a half-million-dollar cash-only bond. An extension was granted due to the seriousness of the crime and volume of collateral information, according to a court filing.

The findings of the evaluation are not part of the public record and were not discussed on Wednesday. A status conference was scheduled for later this month to discuss a possible trial date and any motions that may be filed in the meantime. 

Plunkett is charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and first-degree murder, as well as aggravated assault and battery for holding the shoplifted knife up to another juvenile. Police say Plunkett and his co-defendant, 15-year-old Dominique Harris, discussed the plan to attack Maher in the days leading up to the incident. 

Plunkett and Harris are presumed innocent unless proven or pleading guilty.

The defendants’ joint preliminary hearing included cellphone footage that shows Harris throwing Maher to the ground and holding him down before Plunkett stabs him twice. The knife struck Maher in the heart, and he was pronounced dead at the hospital.

The pair were found within minutes in a nearby neighborhood.

Collected statements presented in court, along with other evidence, indicated that Plunkett had felt insulted by the victim weeks earlier and that Plunkett had told Harris he was going to “gut that dude” less than 48 hours before the homicide.