A judge has ruled that a man who has a history of psychiatric troubles and is charged in two fatal Olney shootings is mentally unfit to stand trial. Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Sharon Burrell ordered that Rohan Goodlett be committed to the state’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, according to court records.
Goodlett, 36, was under the supervision of the department when he allegedly shot Punyasara Gedara and Nazir Ahmed to death in separate incidents in March. He is charged with first-degree murder in both slayings.
Police say Goodlett gunned down Gedara, 41, in broad daylight, and shot Ahmed in the head in the 81-year-old man’s own home.
Mary Siegfried, Goodlett’s attorney, asked that he be evaluated for competency to stand trial. In court papers, Siegfried wrote that Goodlett suffers from a bipolar schizoaffective disorder that involves mood disturbances and psychosis. He was experiencing agitation and paranoia, and refused to meet with her.
In one instance, Siegfried wrote, Goodlett refused to leave his cell, telling a corrections officer that, “It’s Manic Monday, and everyone know you can’t trust people on Mondays.”
Burrell’s order says Goodlett should remain at the Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center until he is no longer incompetent for trial or a danger to himself and others.
Incompetency for trial is not an insanity defense. It means that Goodlett is not able to understand current court proceedings and assist with his defense. An insanity defense concerns a defendant’s state of mind at the time of the alleged crime.
Maryland mental-health officials said after the shootings that Goodlett had seemingly had been complying with his court-ordered treatment. That treatment began in January 2009, when he was found guilty but not criminally responsible in a burglary and harassment case.
He had been directed to see a psychiatrist, avoid alcohol and drugs and not possess weapons, and there were no indications that he was violating those terms.
Since he was jailed in March, Goodlett has been charged with assaulting another inmate and a corrections officer, court records show.
A status hearing in the murder case is scheduled for December.
