Speight's mental evaluation likely to wait until charges heard in court

The Spout Spring man believed to be responsible for the worst mass killing in the state since the Virginia Tech massacre is not likely to have his sanity evaluated until after his charges are heard together in Appomattox County Circuit Court, one of his defense lawyers said Friday.

As of Friday, Christopher Speight was only charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of his sister, Lauralee Sipe.

Speight, 39, was arraigned last week on the charge. Investigators have said he is also responsible for the deaths of Sipe’s husband, two of their children, a neighboring couple, their daughter and another teenage boy at the Snapps Mill Road home he shared with Sipe and her family.

Roanoke attorney C.J. Covati said he expects Appomattox County Commonwealth’s Attorney Darrel Puckett will present additional charges for the other deaths directly to a grand jury for indictment, meaning the first time those charges could be heard will be in circuit court.

A preliminary hearing could be heard in juvenile and domestic relations court for the one charge that is on file now, but Covati said he expects that will be dropped and refiled as a death penalty charge.

“Mass murder like that certainly meets the commonwealth’s definition for capital cases,” Covati said. “I don’t want to put words in the commonwealth’s attorney’s mouth, but we’re expecting that.”

Covati and fellow Roanoke attorney Neil Horn filed notice with the Appomattox court last week that they had been hired as Speight’s lawyers. Covati has been practicing law since 2002 and worked with Horn for a short period in the Roanoke commowealth’s attorney’s office, where Horn was an assistant commonwealth’s attorney from 1999 to 2004.

Covati has been in private practice since then, mostly working in criminal defense, he said. He has never worked on a death penalty case.

“I do have a master’s degree in psychology,” he said Friday. “I imagine that will come in handy in this case.”

Horn is certified by the state commission that oversees court-appointed attorneys to be the lead attorney in death penalty cases. He also worked as a defense attorney for a Roanoke man facing the death penalty in June 2008. Reginald Killingsworth was convicted of capital murder of a convenience store owner, but avoided the death penalty.

Once all the charges are filed, Covati said, Speight’s defense lawyers will ask a judge to order a mental health evaluation. Evaluations can be ordered to determine if a person was sane at the time he was alleged to have committed a crime and to determine if that person is sane enough to understand the legal process and help his lawyers prepare his case.

Lynchburg attorney Henry Devening said last week that he had to draft legal documents in 2007 to have Speight removed as a trustee over family property, including the Snapps Mill Road home, after Speight had a breakdown. Devening said he had likewise drafted documents for Sipe before she was killed that would have restored Speight as the trustee.

Devening said reports from Speight’s friends that he was angry with Sipe the weekend before the slayings because he feared she was trying to kick him out were “mind boggling.”

However, Devening also said Speight had a learning disability that had made it difficult for him to understand other legal documents in the past, including the will Devening prepared for him.

Covati said that if a preliminary hearing is held on the current murder charge, it’s likely to be a long time in coming. He said he also expects Puckett to take his time in filing more charges, adding that the standard for a constitutionally guaranteed speedy trial in Virginia is five months if the suspect is in jail.

Speight is held without bond in the Lynchburg Adult Detention Center.