FARMINGTON — Jeremy Jacob Hauck, who is accused of killing his mother and stuffing her body in a freezer in their Bountiful condo, has been found to be not competent to stand trial.
Two mental health experts agreed independently that Hauck was mentally incompetent, and both the prosecutors and defense attorneys have agreed that Hauck needs more extensive psychiatric attention.
Hauck, 19, was ordered by 2nd District Judge John Morris on Thursday to the Utah State Hospital to be evaluated and possibly treated in an effort to try to restore Hauck's mental competency.
The judge asked for a report from the hospital within 90 days regarding Hauck's mental state. Another court hearing has been set for May 1.
Hauck has been housed in the Davis County Jail since his arrest in 2006. He is charged with first-degree felony murder.
Laura Hauck, 52, was found dead in a basement freezer Aug. 7, 2006, and her son, Jeremy, was later arrested in Montana, where he and his mother previously lived. Police searched the Bountiful condominium and found a gun-shell casing, a large pool of blood on a bed and a blood trail leading to a utility room, where they discovered Laura Hauck's body frozen solid in the chest-style freezer. She died of bullet wounds to the head, according to a medical examiner's report.
Competency is a relatively low legal standard involving a criminal defendant's mental state. In order to be competent, a person does not have to be in excellent mental health, but simply must be able to understand the charges against him, understand how the court works and be capable of assisting in his defense.
This is different from raising an insanity defense, which involves profound and documented mental illness. Defense attorneys rarely attempt to use an insanity defense in Utah because the legal standard is so high.
Later, prosecutor Steve Major said he could not reveal what the two experts' reports said since such information is confidential. However, Major said he was optimistic that once Hauck is hospitalized, some form of treatment can restore his competency.
Defense attorney Todd Utzinger later said he hopes that if Hauck has a mental illness, that it be diagnosed and treated. If not, then that is information that all parties involved need to know, Utzinger said.
Utzinger said his client has never been medicated since the arrest. Hauck did agree to meet with a counselor in jail, but Utzinger said a "breach of confidence" with things Hauck discussed in private "blabbed about the jail" spawned rumors and caused serious problems. "It went totally off track," Utzinger said, declining to give specifics.
"I personally think his mental health has declined," Utzinger said of his client.
Meanwhile, some of Laura Hauck's relatives criticized the court system for dragging the case out so long and they speculated that Jeremy Hauck might be faking incompetence since he is highly intelligent.
"We think he could very well be doing this on purpose," said Annie Call, who was Laura Hauck's niece. "It's not unlike Jeremy to not talk or not cooperate. There's nothing we can do — we have to trust the people at the state hospital."
She said she is a nurse and had never seen any sign of mental illness in Hauck before Laura Hauck's slaying, including a family cruise taken shortly before Laura Hauck died. Call also said there never appeared to be any problems between Jeremy Hauck and his mother: the two of them talked, went to movies and dinner together and appeared to get along.
Jeremy Hauck "does not have a great personality," but he did have friends who enjoyed his company and spoke highly of him, Call said, citing that as another indication that Hauck might be pretending to be incompetent.
Call said she had to clean out Jeremy Hauck's room after he was arrested and she noticed a "progression of him going into darker things on his computer" including violent videos and games that involve killing and suffering victims.
"He desensitized himself," she said. "I think there's a difference between going insane and becoming evil. That's what I saw — not a mental illness building."
John Garlock, Laura Hauck's nephew, said the overriding quality in Jeremy Hauck is arrogance. "He thinks, 'I'm too cool for everyone in this room.' " Garlock said. "He's been smiling the whole time."
Garlock also criticized the court system for permitting what he characterized as stressful and insensitive questioning of his parents, Faye and Larry Garlock, who originally began worrying about Laura Hauck after they had not heard from her over a weekend and after her supervisor called saying she had not shown up for work, which was out of character. Larry Garlock called police to the Hauck condo and persuaded them to go inside to check on his sister-in-law while a tearful Faye Hauck telephoned relatives to see whether her sister might have gone out of town.
E-mail: lindat@desnews.com