CLEVELAND (WJW) – The FOX 8 I-Team has uncovered a new legal battle over the mental health of the suspect in the murder of Cleveland Police Officer Jamieson Ritter.
Ritter was shot and killed July 4, 2024 and the suspect, Delawnte Hardy was found incompetent to stand trial in September 2024. He remains in a Columbus mental health facility. Hardy is also accused of killing his own grandmother.
Cuyahoga County prosecutors are asking a judge to allow a medical doctor selected by the state to examine Hardy and issue a second opinion on his mental health or to set a hearing. Prosecutors are also asking that Hardy be moved to another facility and received an opinion from that facility on his mental health.
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“The State wishes for there to be a hearing on the issue of competency at some point before July 4, 2026, wherein the State of Ohio will be allowed to cross examine the authors of the latest report saying the defendant is still not competent to stand trial,” the prosecutor’s motion states. “Something must happen in this case. Justice requires at least an inquiry into why every single doctor who opined on this defendant’s competency in the late summer, and early fall of 2024 has said he is restorable in one year yet almost two years since he killed two people somehow he remains not competent to stand trial.”
Karen and Jon Ritter, Jamieson’s parents, have said every day has been difficult since their son was murdered and they want justice for their son.
Defense attorneys object to the prosecutor’s request, stating in a motion that any change in where Hardy is housed should be made by his treating physician “or the examiner and not the State of Ohio or any other party to the proceedings.”
“Moving a patient amid restoration to competency treatment would cause a disruption in his treatment and likely affect his progress,” the defense motion states. “Once restoration has been ordered by the court, any changes in placement should be left to the discretion of the medical professionals as required by statute.”
Defense attorneys also stated that the treatment providers of Central Ohio Behavioral Health believe there is a “substantial probability” that Hardy can be restored to competency.
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But prosecutors disagree.
“This facility has issued opinion after opinion that the defendant is still not competent to stand trial despite taking strong medications for an extended period of time and being able to describe the duties of each of the relevant persons in a trial, knowledge of his charges, knowledge of the possible sentences, and the various types of pleas he can enter on the advice of counsel,” the prosecutors motion states. “The State is amazed that he is still not competent considering how quickly he was restored to competency in early 2024 after just a couple of months of outpatient treatment. The standard is no different in this case as it was in that one.”
The January 2024 case was an unrelated misdemeanor charge.
The case involving Jamieson Ritter has already led to a change in state law. Getting Hardy restored to competency has taken so long, lawmakers approved a new measure to give prosecutors more time to get someone mentally fit for trial, extending the deadline from one year to three years.
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