Sex abuse suspect to undergo treatment for competency

Henry Culvyhouse, The Daily Independent, Ashland, Ky.
Updated ·2 min read

Jul. 14—CATLETTSBURG — An Ashland man accused of sexually abusing a woman inside a nursing home is likely to undergo treatment in order to become competent to stand trial.

Judge John Vincent said the Boyd County Commonwealth's Attorney's office filed a motion on July 3 to have 26-year-old Nathaniel R. Lesniak to undergo a "restoration process" to see if he could become competent to stand trial.

Earlier this year, Lesniak — who police said assaulted a woman inside a nursing home, and then admitted he was a rapist — was ordered to undergo a competency evaluation.

While a case worker of the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Human Services — who has guardianship over Lesniak — stated the cabinet had no objection for Lesniak to undergo treatment, public defender Whitney Davis said she would like to speak to her client first.

Vincent said, legally, Davis would need to talk to Lesniak before a decision would be made, although he was inclined to order the treatment.

Under Kentucky law, if a defendant is found incompetent to stand trial, a judge has an option to order him or her to undergo treatment to see if competency can be restored.

Once ordered, that process will go on for a maximum of 60 days or until the defendant is stabilized enough to proceed, which ever comes first.

Up until 2021, if a defendant was found incompetent to stand trial and could not be restored, they could only be held at a psychiatric facility for as long as they "can reasonably benefit from treatment."

That standard placed the ball in the court of whoever ran the facility. If the defendant could not benefit from treatment, they could be released.

Legislators changed the law in 2021 in response to the 2019 assault and rape of an 8-year-old girl in Louisville. Her alleged assailant, Cane Madden, was previously found to lack competency to stand trial in another case and would stand to be released back into the public.

Legislators passed a new bill in which a commonwealth's attorney could petition a court to hold a violent offender indefinitely until the court determined he or she was no longer a danger to themselves or others.

(606) 326-2653 — henry@dailyindependent.com