Wantage man charged with murder in 2012 killing not able to stand trial, judge rules
A Wantage man accused of killing a 73-year-old woman during a robbery nearly a decade ago poses an imminent danger to himself or others and is unable to stand trial, a Sussex County Superior Court judge ruled.
Victor Razumov, 27, who in 2014 gouged out his eyes in jail while awaiting his murder trial, continues to have delusions due to his mental illness that bores directly on his defense strategy and lacks the rational ability to work with his attorney to prepare his defense, wrote Judge Michael Gaus in his 25-page order, citing a doctor's report.
"Defendant’s lack of understanding of his Fifth Amendment Rights, and the rights he would be waiving if he were to enter a plea agreement weighs heavily in the Court’s opinion that proceeding at this juncture would certainly violate Defendant’s due process rights," Gaud wrote.
Razumov, who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, will remain at Trenton Psychiatric Hospital to receive additional treatment, Gaus ordered. He is to engage in one-on-one and group counseling sessions and is to undergo a psychological test that is used to detect if an individual is faking disorders or cognitive deficits. Razumov has, in the past, doctors have testified, declined to take part in individual counseling and often stays in his room alone.
Gaus' decision stems from a hearing that took place in April when a psychologist opined Razumov's diagnosis has left him with delusions, confusion and paranoia.
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Dr. Jeffrey Palmer, a forensic psychologist, opined during the hearing that he evaluated Razumov three times, the latest in January. Razumov, he said, experienced "bizarre delusions" where he believed unknown forces put him in prison unjustly. He had lacked the ability to understand the charges against him, Palmer said.
Razumov's mental fitness has been at the forefront of his case since authorities say while awaiting trial in Trenton State Prison, he gouged out his left eye. A week later, he nearly gouged out his right and is now functionally blind, doctors said.
Due to his diagnosis and continued delusions and confusion, Razumov was deemed incompetent to stand trial in May 2015, June 2016 and October 2017.
In April 2018, another doctor reported that Razumov was "psychotic" with delusional thoughts, had paranoid ideation and had refused to engage in meaningful conversation. The report led to a third competency evaluation by a different doctor, who reversed course and found Razumov capable of understanding the court process and the crimes against him.
To confirm the findings, the doctor conducted several tests and found Razumov was intelligent and bright. She believed, at the time, that he had malingered some of his symptoms. Her testimony in court was the basis for a judge's January 2019 decision to render him competent to stand trial.
In a follow-up hearing two months later, Razumov appeared confused and unable to state where he was or even his own name — an attempt, prosecutors believed, to delay a trial, prosecutors believed. A trial date was set for May 2020, but the pandemic halted any movement in the case.
Razumov, then an 18-year-old High Point Regional High School student, is accused of cutting the throat of Virginia "Suzy" Sommer while he burglarized her home on Valley View Trail in the Lake Neepaulin section of Wantage on Nov. 14, 2012. Authorities say he was caught on video camera pawning the stolen items at a shop in Sussex.
Sommer, who worked from 1993 until her retirement in 1999 as a licensed practical nurse at Sunrise House rehabilitation center in Lafayette, was found stabbed to death in her home by state police after friends became worried that something bad had happened to her when she did not respond to phone calls.
Razumov is also facing charges of felony murder, burglary, theft and weapons offenses.
Authorities say six days later while searching the Razumov house, which is a half-mile from Sommer's home, police found some of her jewelry in the yard and a bloody piece of paper in Razumov's room. Razumov allegedly grabbed the paper from a detective's hand, ran around the house in an attempt to destroy it and tried to eat it.
An attorney-only conference is expected to take place this month.
Lori Comstock can also be reached on Twitter: @LoriComstockNJH, on Facebook: www.Facebook.com/LoriComstockNJH or by phone: 973-383-1194.
This article originally appeared on New Jersey Herald: Wantage NJ: Judge says Victor Razumov not competent for trial
