When we last checked in on Ryan Cox, the 40-year-old repeat offender arrested after a man was stabbed in Gatewood last August, he had been ordered sent to Western State Hospital for an attempt at restoring competency to stand trial. Today, a King County Superior Court judge formally found Cox competent, an assessment that doctors at the state hospital had reached while he was there. According to the evaluation document that’s in the public court files, they diagnosed Cox with unspecified psychosis, while finding him in full understanding of the charges he faces and capable of assisting in his own defense. For his part, the evaluation says, Cox told them he “played crazy to come here” because he prefers WSH to county jail. It’s not the first time he has said that; we covered a Municipal Court hearing eight years ago in which he said that to his lawyer and then basically asked the judge if she could send him there ASAP. This was the first time in five years he had been to that hospital, according to court records. Aside from his time there, he has been in the King County Jail since his arrest, bail set at $150,000, awaiting trial on second-degree assault. Now that the competency issue has been resolved, his next case-scheduling hearing is set for July 26th.
West Seattle, Washington
05 Tuesday
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