EVERETT — A teenager has undergone an extensive mental health evaluation in the months since he was accused of murdering his guardian.
A Snohomish County Superior Court judge was told Friday that lawyers need more time to review the findings and sort out if the evaluation could affect how they proceed. The prosecutor had not seen the evaluation as of Friday. He expected to get the report by the end of the month.
Attorney Robert O’Neal confirmed in the hearing that he is exploring a possible defense connected to the boy’s mental health issues. He said he is hopeful that the case can be resolved without a trial.
O’Neal reassured Judge Michael Downes that the teen understands the need to move the trial date to April. There are no concerns about his competency to assist in his lawyers, the public defender said.
Brad George was not called forward to the front of the courtroom Friday. Instead, he answered the judge’s questions from behind a glass wall separating inmates from the rest of the room.
George is being housed at the Denney Juvenile Justice Center. He turned 17 last month. George is charged as an adult because of his age and the seriousness of the allegations.
He is accused of bludgeoning his guardian, Gina Latshaw, 37, with a dumbbell while she slept in their south Everett apartment. Latshaw had raised the boy since he was a toddler.
Prosecutors allege that George planned the deadly beating and later took a series of steps to hide his involvement.
He allegedly confessed to the Feb. 7 killing. He said Latshaw, whom he called “Mom,” was poisoning him with bleach. He described to detectives how he slid a coat hanger under the bedroom door, disabling the security bar Latshaw installed as a precaution. He later staged a break-in, prosecutors allege.
Latshaw grew up in Snohomish County. In 1999, she began dating George’s father, who had custody of three of his four children. George was a toddler. In 2003, Latshaw sought custody of the boy and one of his sisters.
By then, Latshaw had sought mental health treatment for George. He was just 5. His aggression was growing. George was hitting, kicking and banging his head on walls. He’d bitten himself hard enough to draw blood. Latshaw told a mental health clinician that the boy had talked about killing himself and threatened to kill her.
He was aggressive toward animals and told graphic, violent stories. His teachers said the 5-year-old’s behavior was preventing him from making friends.
George had been hospitalized in the past, including one stay in 2010 for hallucinations. During that stay, George was diagnosed with homicidal ideation. He threatened a nurse with a piece of wood he’d pried loose from a chair.
In the past, the teen was diagnosed with conduct and mood disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to court records.
Latshaw’s family and friends said she never gave up on George, always advocating for him.
The teen told police he’d quit taking his medications a week before the killing.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463, hefley@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dianahefley.
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