Bike Week murders: Competency hearing wraps up, decision expected this month

A judge is expected to decide this month whether a man accused of viciously stabbing to death a Daytona Beach couple during Bike Week last year should be committed to a state hospital for psychiatric treatment before legal proceedings against him can continue.

Jean Macean, 33, of Orlando, has been indicted on two counts of first-degree murder with a weapon while acting with premeditation in the killings of Terry Aultman, 48, and Brenda Aultman, 55, according to the indictment. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

The Aultmans were stabbed repeatedly while riding their bicycles home early the morning of March 6, 2022, after attending Bike Week festivities on Main Street, police said. Their bodies were found at the corner of Riverview Boulevard and North Wild Olive Avenue.

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Circuit Judge Elizabeth Blackburn presided over a competency hearing for Macean, which started on Monday and continued Wednesday. Blackburn said she would rule before Macean's next hearing, which is set for March.

If Blackburn decides Macean is not competent to proceed, the case would be put on hold while he receives medical treatment. Once doctors and the judge decide Macean is competent, the case would resume.

In her closing argument, Assistant Public Defender Jessica Roberts said experts testified that Macean should be hospitalized until his competency can be restored. She said brain scans show Macean had brain damage. She said experts diagnosed him with schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder.

In his closing argument, Assistant State Attorney Andrew Urbanak said in the 15 years before his arrest, Macean had not been treated for any psychiatric problems. (Macean came to the United States from Haiti when he was about 11.)

Urbanak said that Macean had been able to work at several different places including as a cook at Disney World's Animal Kingdom. Macean was also married and divorced during that time, and he had fathered a daughter with another woman. Urbanak also pointed to a test by a defense expert who testified he believed Macean was malingering, meaning he was pretending to have a mental illness.

Scarring on Macean's brain

Testimony Wednesday began with Roberts questioning defense witness Dr. Geoffrey A. Negin. Negin said that scans of Macean’s brain showed severe scarring. He pointed in particular to an area on the left showing a large white dot. He said there was no way the scarring was normal.

“This is one of the most exuberant cases I have seen,” Negin said. “There is something very wrong here.”

He said there were also signs of brain shrinkage, which would be normal for someone with a disease or someone in their 70s or 80s, but not for someone Macean’s age.

He said the scarring could have been caused by accidents, fights, beatings and other trauma to the brain.

Urbanak did not cross examine Negin.

Valerie McClain, a psychologist, testified for the defense. When Assistant Public Defender Sara Altes questioned her, she said Macean was not competent to proceed.

She diagnosed Macean with schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder and a learning disorder. She said Macean was “actively experiencing auditory hallucinations” both times she spoke with him.

McClain said she did not believe that he was feigning any mental illness.

She also said she did not think Macean could testify in his own defense because he would be impaired by his psychotic symptoms. She said he did not understand parts of the legal process, such as possible pleas or the adversarial nature of the justice system.

She said she did believe Macean could act appropriately in court, which he did during the competency hearing. He did not act out. On Wednesday, he did not stare up at the ceiling as he had on Monday. Macean sat silently next to his attorneys looking ahead.

During cross examination, Urbanak said another doctor had not found Macean had post-traumatic stress disorder.

The question of malingering

Later, Urbanak called Roger Davis, a psychologist, to testify for the state. Davis testified that he believed Macean was competent and the legal case could proceed against him.

Davis noted the lack of prior psychiatric treatment for Macean and said it would be unusual for someone who is psychotic, which produces significant symptoms, not to receive treatment for that long.

Davis said Macean scored high on a test for malingering.

“The malingering results were way above the threshold,” Davis said.

He believed Macean had the capacity to help his attorney in his case, testify relevantly and behave appropriately in court.

During cross examination, Roberts said that before Davis gave Macean the malingering test, Macean had indicated he was tired. But Roberts said Davis went ahead and administered the long test. When Macean asked for the definition of “unbearable” which appears in the test a number of times Davis gave him his own definition, not the one written for the test, Roberts said.

She also said that Davis had testified he did not believe Macean had brain damage. But she said Davis had no qualifications to make that determination.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona Beach Bike Week murders: Mental competency hearing adjourns