Suspect in slaying enters insanity plea

It will take about 90 days for Riggs to have psychological evaluations done, the public defender says.

STAFF REPORT

WARREN — The 26-year-old Burghill man charged with killing his girlfriend in Vernon Township last month has pleaded innocent by reason of insanity to charges of aggravated murder and abuse of a corpse.

Atty. Anthony Consoldane of the Ohio Public Defender’s Office also filed a motion with Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court seeking to determine whether Nathan A. Riggs, of state Route 7, is competent to stand trial.

Riggs told his mother he had killed Tricia W. Wade, 31, a mother of four, in the garage of her home on Bushnell-Campbell Road, where Riggs was also living June 27.

Sheriff Thomas Altiere has said that Riggs confessed that he bludgeoned Wade with a hammer in the garage of her home. She was found dead on a couch in the garage.

Consoldane said it will take about 90 days for Riggs to have psychological evaluations done to determine whether he can aid in his own defense during trial and whether he was sane at the time of Wade’s death.

The point of the testing is to determine whether Riggs understood right and wrong at the time of the death, Consoldane added.

Consoldane said members of Riggs’ family have told him that Riggs drowned at about 2 and was revived, but his brain was deprived of oxygen long enough to cause brain damage. He has never learned to read or write, the attorney added.

Judge Logan continued Riggs’ bond at $2 million, and he remains in Trumbull County Jail.

The penalty for aggravated murder is 15 years to life in prison.