VIERA - Justin Heyne, accused of gunning down a Titusville family of three in a rage over alleged name-calling, is mentally competent to stand trial on first-degree premeditated murder charges, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Circuit Judge Meryl Allawas' decision, based on findings by two court-appointed psychologists, means a trial could begin late this year for the 26-year-old Titusville man.
Heyne is charged with three counts in connection with the March 30, 2006, shootings of Benjamin Hamilton, Sarah Buckoski and their 5-year-old daughter, Ivory Hamilton.
The psychologists' reports weren't read in court because medical records aren't public record, said prosecutor Tom Brown, who plans to pursue a death sentence if Heyne is convicted. Police said Heyne told them the couple insulted him while he was living at their Moon Road home.
"Our position has always been there was no question to his competency," Brown said, but "I would rather have it raised now than raised as an appellate issue later."
Heyne's attorney, assistant public defender J. Randall Moore, said he raised the competency issue during a November hearing -- in which Heyne unexpectedly announced that he wished to change his not guilty plea to guilty in exchange for a life sentence -- because he "had concerns about his (Heyne's) mental status."
Moore said rules of confidentiality prevented him from going into detail. The lawyer's next step is to continue taking witness depositions and to schedule a neurological examination before Heyne's next hearing Feb. 29.
"In a death penalty case, you want the defendant to have the benefit of all the information possible to take to the jury," Moore said. "I believe that it (a neurological exam) is warranted in this case."
Buckoski's grandparents and Hamilton's mother, Juanita Perez, called Wednesday's five-minute hearing "a waste of time."
By pursuing a case against a defendant who police say has essentially confessed, Perez claims the state is wasting taxpayer money while delaying the victims' families of closure and possibly subjecting them to years of death penalty appeals.
"We're getting penalized, not him," said Perez, who has been rallying prosecutors to accept a plea bargain of three life terms offered to the state by Heyne's lawyer.
Brown has said the brutal nature of the case does not warrant plea negotiations, and that there are some relatives who feel the death penalty is the more appropriate punishment for the crimes.
If Heyne had been found incompetent, officials said he would have been committed to a state mental health facility and re-evaluated every six months until he was deemed competent to stand trial.
Contact Summers at 242-3642 or ksummers@floridatoday.com.
