Court weighs trial options for accused credit union robber.
An 81-year-old man indicted for the armed robbery of an Arizona credit union is in a hospital to determine whether he is competent to stand trial because he may or may not have dementia.
On Jan. 12, Robert Francis Krebs walked into a branch of the $160 million Pyramid Federal Credit Union in Tucson with a black BB handgun and stole more than $8,000. Police captured him the next day without incident.
Because of his age and his criminal record spanning six decades, the armed robbery drew national headlines from the mainstream and trade press. Krebs served more than 30 years in prison for robbing a Florida bank in the 1980s. He was also convicted in 1966 for embezzling $72,000 from a Chicago bank where he worked as a teller.
Krebs pleaded not guilty to the armed bank robbery felony charge in March in Tucson's U.S. District Court. A jury trial was scheduled for August.
In July, however, J. Leonardo Costales, assistant federal public defender representing Krebs, observed that his client seemed to have signs of dementia. In at least one instance, Krebs was not able to recognize his lawyer or communicate in any way, Costales said in court documents.
Costales hired Marisa Menchola, Ph.D., an assistant professor for the Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology at the University of Arizona, to examine Krebs. Her evaluation report determined Krebs was not competent to stand trial, and he was not "restorable to competence."
However, a federal judge ordered a second examination on Krebs that was conducted by medical doctor Bradley Johnson, who also specializes in psychiatry and neurology. His evaluation report determined Krebs was competent to stand trial and that the accused robber was "more likely consistent with malingering," or that he was possibly faking dementia, according to court documents.
During a September court hearing, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline M. Rateau, found that because both evaluation reports had "deficiencies," she ordered that Krebs be hospitalized for a four months to undergo medical examinations on whether Krebs has a mental disease or defect to determine his mental competency to stand trial.
Krebs has been in federal custody since he was captured by police in January.
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