NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Some stories stick with you. They make an indentation.
That’s how it has felt to report on the people who deal with mental incompetency, the justice system and the fallout. That is why we did this special that you can watch Friday, June 28, at 6:30 p.m.
You can watch our special online, streaming and on NewsChannel 5.
This topic came to light for many across Tennessee with the death of Jillian Ludwig, the Belmont freshman shot and killed before Thanksgiving. The person charged with shooting her was found mentally incompetent by the court twice before Jillian’s death.
Not two weeks later, it happened again. Another person died. Another person was charged, who the court had previously found mentally incompetent.
This pattern became impossible to keep up with in Nashville, where we have focused a lot of this reporting on mental incompetency. The four of us — myself, Ben Hall, Jennifer Kraus and Levi Ismail — can look at a person’s criminal history now and gauge whether they are competent based on the patterns of prosecution.
We’ve found stories that span time — decades. We told the story of Lucy Fullerton and interviewed her 97-year-old mother, who still remembered the dark details of her daughter’s violent death in 1970. The person accused of killing her daughter has remained free because of the question of competency and state law.
Trauma in that form never leaves a person. And it’s what we have found doing this reporting at its core.
We have found layers among those accused of these crimes and the victims — some of who have survived rape, kidnapping and attempted murder. Some of the victims don’t live through the violence perpetrated against them, which is always somber to accept. We’ve talked to the families who have suffered that loss at the hands of someone who was mentally incompetent. We've found trauma within the suspects themselves.
Not only is there tremendous grief, but we have also found the added layer of anger. Those who were found mentally incompetent were allowed to return to the public domain without getting better. And in some cases, the families of those with competency problems tried to get them help and were turned away.
With mental incompetency and Tennessee law, we’ve largely found that no one is satisfied — from judges to police to district attorneys.
However, lawmakers were unhappy enough with the current situation to change state law. It changes July 1. Anyone found mentally incompetent must receive treatment, and the court must keep up with their whereabouts as they transition through the process.
We don’t know what this will look like yet. When this goes into effect, we will ask questions. We will follow up.
Much like you, we can’t prevent or negotiate outcomes.
But we will bear witness — bear witness to the trauma, bear witness to the process.
We hope this special gives you some answers and maybe some new questions.
Have new questions? Send them to emily.west@newschannel5.com.
This special was created by Levi Ismail, Emily R. West, Ben Hall, Jennifer Kraus, Hunter Palmer and Jerry Walker.
Before Jillian Ludwig, NewsChannel 5 Investigates discovered dozens of criminal cases in Davidson County were dropped because the person arrested was not mentally competent.
By law, a person arrested for a crime must understand the charges against him.
If a doctor determines the person is "not competent to stand trial" the criminal case cannot proceed.
That is what happened with Larry Brown, 67, who was arrested after attacking five nurses and a security guard in the St. Thomas Midtown parking garage in April of 2021.
You can read Larry's story by tapping this link.
Jillian Ludwig died in November allegedly at the hands of a man the court had previously declared mentally incompetent.
She was shot and killed while she took a walk two blocks from the campus of Belmont University. Jillian was on the ground for an hour before anyone found her.
The suspected shooter is Shaquille Taylor, who has an intellectual disability and language impairment, according to court records obtained by NewsChannel 5.
That determination meant he wasn't able to participate in a trial where he was accused of shooting into a car in 2021 off of Dickerson Pike where a 3-year-old and 1-year-old were in the back seat. He admitted to detectives in 2021 that he did it, but because of his mental incompetency designation, he was able to return to the public domain.
You can read more about Taylor and his history by tapping this link.
The day before Kenneth Beach allegedly shot and killed the man he grew up alongside, he sought help from two different psychiatric facilities in Nashville.
On Monday, Beach's wife told NewsChannel 5 she took him to Vanderbilt University Medical Center. They kept him overnight and let him go. The following Wednesday morning, his mom said she took him to Centerstone Mental Health and Addiction Treatment for All and said he didn't receive help to her level of satisfaction.
Hours later at around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, Beach is accused of killing Josue Riscar Chirino after shooting him multiple times, police said. Beach turned himself into the police.
He has since been charged by a grand jury.
You can read more about Beach's story by tapping here.
Elbony Weatherspoon said she’s lucky to be alive.
Her ex-boyfriend threatened to kill her and himself with Weatherspoon’s gun, but it was only after she got proof that she said Murfreesboro Police were quick to act.
Officers responded to Weatherspoon’s home back in August to find Michael Thibodeau had barricaded himself inside, armed with the gun Weatherspoon reported missing two days earlier.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates found the man Weatherspoon was dating was found incompetent to stand trial in 2009 after being diagnosed as manic bipolar.
Read how Elbony survived by tapping the link.
Last December, the Bowling Green Police Department arrested Johnson Lloyd, 25, for violently attacking and raping the clerk at a hotel off Interstate 65. Police said Lloyd had been trying to sleep on a couch in the hotel lobby and was repeatedly asked to leave when he physically and sexually assaulted the woman working behind the counter.
Lloyd's trouble with the law and experience with the mental health system actually began long before his arrest in Bowling Green.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates discovered that Lloyd was first arrested in Maryland in 2017 for armed robbery and assault. But because of his mental illness, doctors found him "not criminally responsible." He was sent to a mental hospital for five years and then released to a group home where he could continue to get medication and other mental health services.
You can read about what happened to Lloyd by tapping the link.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
