Bike Week murders: Judge resets competency hearing after defense challenges finding
A judge on Tuesday reset a hearing for a man accused of fatally stabbing a couple during Bike Week in 2022 after his defense attorneys stated they believe he remains incompetent and requested more time for experts to evaluate him.
This opposes the Florida Department of Children and Families' determination that Jean Macean no longer meets the criteria for involuntary commitment.
Circuit Judge Elizabeth Blackburn set a hearing on Macean's competency for June 23.
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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.
Assistant Public Defender Jessica Roberts, who along with Assistant Public Defender Larry Avallone, is representing Macean, asked the judge Tuesday that the hearing be rescheduled to July so that defense experts could examine Macean.
Blackburn said July was too far out and the two compromised, settling on June 23.
Assistant State Attorney Andrew Urbanak asked the judge to rule Macean was competent and to set the case on a regular pre-trial docket with hearings every 60 days. Urbanak said the report had found Macean competent.
"I'm not going to make any findings today obviously," Blackburn said, "but I have reviewed the report and it's probably one of the most detailed reports I've seen."
Macean spoke briefly to his attorneys but made no statements to the court during the brief hearing at the S. James Foxman Justice Center in Daytona Beach.
The contents of the confidential report were not discussed in court.
Bike Week stabbings
The Aultmans were stabbed repeatedly while riding their bicycles home in the early 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.
Blackburn ruled on Feb. 13 that Macean was incompetent to proceed and ordered that he be committed to the Department of Children and Families.
Macean’s competency was the topic of hearings on Jan. 30 and Feb. 1.
At the hearings, Blackburn said Macean had been diagnosed at the jail as having a mental illness, an unspecified psychosis. He is being treated with medication at the jail. And jail records reflect that he had “auditory hallucinations” and “disorganized thoughts” when he was first arrested.
Blackburn noted that both defense experts testified that it was likely Macean could be restored to competency within 90 days.
An order to transport Macean to Tuesday's hearing also instructed the jail medical staff to collaborate with department physicians to ensure changes in medication do not harm Macean’s mental health status or his ability to proceed in the legal case. It also states that the final authority regarding medication for an inmate rests with the jail’s physician.
The order states that the jail should notify the court immediately if Macean refuses to take any medication.
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This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona Beach Bike Week murders suspect incompetent, defense says
