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    Designated Examiner submits competency evaluation for murder suspect Monroe; fitness to proceed hearing awaits

    (Lander, WY) – The ‘Forensic Evaluation – Competency Restoration’ report for Brandon Monroe, one of the four parties involved in the January 4th, 2019 murders of Jocelyn Watt and Rudy Perez, has officially been submitted as of February 7, according to court documents filed on February 8.

    Monroe, who was 16 at the time of the incident, was reportedly one of the two parties who were inside the home of Watt and Perez when the gunshots were heard and the murders occurred.

    While various hearings were held for the other parties, the Court determined Monroe’s fitness to proceed needed to be determined, and a competency report was ordered by the Court on June 2 of 2022.

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    After an initial delay in the evaluation due to staffing and construction issues at the Wyoming State Hospital, the competency report from Designated Examiner Katherine Mahaffey P.H.D. was ultimately filed within a few weeks of the estimate given at the November 10, 2022 status update hearing.

    Currently, that report is sealed and not available for public viewing.

    Now that the Examiner’s report has been submitted, a fitness to proceed hearing will be set in the coming weeks.

    However, before that hearing can be set, the Court ordered status reports from the prosecution and defense “indicating their general position” regarding Dr. Maffey’s evaluation.

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    Those reports were ordered to be submitted within 14 days of the February 8 date the order was issued.

    While the defense’s report has yet to be submitted, the State’s response was filed on February 9 by prosecutor Patrick LeBrun.

    According to that document, “The State has reviewed the report of Katherine Mahaffey P.H.D. It appears pursuant to the report that the Defendant is competent to proceed and the State accepts Dr. Mahaffey’s opinion.”

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    The State also provided an estimate as to how long that hearing might take (“no more than one hour thirty minutes”), as per the court order.

    County 10 will provide updates on the ensuing fitness to proceed hearing, as well as on the hearings of the other parties involved, which can be found here.

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