Robbins awaits trial in mental hospital

The area resident accused of shooting and killing a University student on the HUB lawn Sept. 17, 1996, is not waiting for her trial in a jail cell surrounded by convicts and the accused awaiting trials.

Norristown State Hospital is an in-patient, psychiatric institution that treats both voluntary and court-committed patients, said Dr. Randall Franklin, assistant superintendent for social rehabilitation and forensic services at the hospital.

Robbins was originally committed to the hospital for 90 days last October, but her stay has since been increased to six months, Lux said.

Robbins is accused of killing Melanie Spalla and attempting to kill another student, Nicholas Mensah, when she began firing a high-power military rifle on the HUB lawn early last semester. Robbins is charged with first- and third-degree murder, attempted murder and aggravated assault.

Like Robbins, not all suspects charged with a crime await their trials in prisons. Some are committed to mental institutions to determine their mental state and to receive treatment and education, Franklin said.

"Patients are of a detained status as any prisoner in a prison would be," he said. "Many of the court-committed patients are sent for pre-trial competency to determine the patient's ability to stand trial."

The hospital staff, though, does not determine if a patient is competent. That is for the court to decide, Franklin said.

"Usually the court will go with the recommendation of the psychologist or psychiatrist, but not always," he said.

Competency is determined in one of two manners that were developed in the early 1980s.

"One is a test that is rather abstract and consists of questions not related to the patient's particular case," Franklin said.

The other instrument is called "the interview" and is the procedure used at Norristown State Hospital.

"The interview helps to establish if the patient's behavior is self-defeating or self-serving as well as determine if the patient trusts their lawyer, understands the charges against them and things like that," Franklin said.

If a court-committed patient is found to be competent to stand trial they will either be transferred to a prison to await trial or remain in the hospital.

Patients who are being medicated and are uncooperative might also be kept at the hospital, Franklin said.

"In a prison, a person can not be force-medicated because the mental health act does not apply there," he said.

Patients at Norristown State Hospital are usually assessed within the first 30 days of their arrival. Most are determined to be competent, although in some cases it may take years to come to an accurate evaluation.

"Sometimes a patient may appear to be competent when they are received (at the hospital), but since someone has questioned the competency of the patient they must be assessed," Franklin said.

Concluding if a patient is competent is very different than determining whether or not they are sane, he said.

"Determining competency is done to ensure that the patient understands what they have been charged with and what is going to happen in court," Franklin said. "Insanity speaks to the state of mind of the patient at the time of the incident."

The question of whether the insanity defense will be used in the Robbins case has been asked since the day the shooting occurred. Attorney James Bryant said Robbins' attorney is likely to opt for the insanity defense.

"They have no choice but to use it," he said. "There is too much evidence to indicate that she went out to waste people."

"It's a slam dunk for the prosecution," he said. "It's just a question of the degree of guilt."

Robbins' competency has not yet been determined.