Competency when crimes occurred to be evaluated

YOUNGSTOWN — A common pleas court judge has found a murder suspect competent to stand trial, but the court is still waiting to see if the man was legally insane at the time of the murder.

Daniel Ortello, 20, of South Bruce Street, appeared Thursday before Judge R. Scott Krichbaum in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court for a competency hearing. Ortello is charged with the murder of Seetreon A. Dothard, 29, of West Judson Avenue, and the attempted murder and felonious assault against K’Shawn Weaver on the same day.

Ortello has pleaded innocent by reason of insanity.

Judge Krichbaum had found Ortello incompetent to stand trial in May, but the court has now found that Ortello is competent to stand trial. Ortello will now be evaluated to determine if he was insane when the crimes occurred.

If Ortello is deemed to have been insane at the time of the crimes, he could be sentenced to a mental- health facility.

Police found Dothard face down on the street in the 200 block of Lansdowne Boulevard, dead of an apparent gunshot wound to the head.

Ortello was arrested March 13 in the psychiatric unit of Forum Health Northside Medical Center and placed in the Mahoning County jail.