Judge rules on security level for 2 at mental health facility

WARREN — James Hubbard, who shot a woman to death in 1991 in a Taco Bell parking lot in Niles, will remain in a state mental hospital at the same security level.

Hubbard, 52, appeared before Judge W. Wyatt McKay of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court in January and was ordered to take certain psychiatric medications that he had refused.

Judge McKay also ruled Lisa K. Layne, 57, should be reclassified at Level 5 at the same state facility, a classification that will allow her to have off-grounds unsupervised trips.

Layne was found not guilty by reason of insanity of burglary and attempted aggravated arson for pouring gasoline on a house on West Third Street in Niles and possessing a lighter in May 2009.

Prosecutors say she threatened to burn down her former pastor’s house while his four children were inside.