Westminster woman found incompetent to stand trial in husband’s killing
A Westminster woman indicted in the March 2023 beating death of her husband has been found incompetent to stand trial.
On Tuesday, Gail Joy D’Anthony, 76, appeared in Carroll County Circuit Court for a second competency hearing in front of Judge Fred Hecker. The judge ordered D’Anthony to be sent to a hospital for further evaluation, based on the findings of a Maryland Department of Health mental health doctor.
“The defendant, because of her mental health, would be a danger to herself and others,” Hecker said.
Hecker said he hoped that D’Anthony, who has been held without bail in the Carroll County Detention Center since her arrest in June, would be transported to a hospital promptly in order to address her competency issues.
The judge ordered a status hearing for July 9, to receive an update on D’Anthony, who will be under the supervision of the Maryland Department of Health. Hecker also ordered a second status hearing for Jan. 9, 2025 to determine if D’Anthony is competent to stand trial. A murder trial was originally set to begin Monday.
D’Anthony was arrested June 21 in Cumberland, Allegany County. She was indicted in July on felony murder charges in the killing of her husband, John D’Anthony III, 72, on March 1 at their home in the 300 block of Royer Road. She was charged with first- and second-degree murder and vulnerable adult abuse of a family member, according to court documents.
On Dec. 20, D’Anthony’s attorney from the Carroll County Office of the Public Defender, raised the question of her competency to stand trial. During that hearing Carroll County Circuit Judge Brian DeLeonardo ordered a mental health evaluation and a competency hearing.
At the first competency hearing on Jan. 2, Hecker said that a mental health evaluation had not taken place because D’Anthony refused to meet with a doctor unless her attorney was present. The judge ordered a second competency hearing after informing D’Anthony that a defendant in Maryland does not have the right to have a lawyer present when meeting with a doctor. Hecker scheduled the second competency hearing for Tuesday, to allow time for D’Anthony to be evaluated.
On Tuesday, the findings from the doctor’s evaluation were read in court. D’Anthony, who came to court in a wheelchair wearing a jail-issued orange jumpsuit, had trouble understanding the evaluation. The doctor said his attempts to have D’Anthony focus on “current topics and past issues” were unsuccessful. He said that D’Anthony does not have the ability to handle the demands of a trial and does not demonstrate the ability to effectively work with counsel and assist in her own defense.
In an interview after the hearing, Amy Ocampo, of the Carroll County State’s Attorney’s Office, said staff at the detention center reported D’Anthony had not been compliant in taking prescribed medications, and described her behavior at times as “confused, agitated and verbally abusive.”
