Mental health of Westminster woman indicted in husband’s killing to be evaluated
A judge has ordered a competency hearing for Gail Joy D’Anthony, 76, of Westminster, whose trial for the March murder of her husband is set to begin Jan. 8.
During a hearing Wednesday, Carroll County Circuit Judge Brian DeLeonardo scheduled the competency hearing for Jan. 2, to allow time for D’Anthony to be evaluated by a mental health expert. DeLeonardo issued his decision after D’Anthony’s attorney raised the question of her competency to stand trial.
D’Anthony is being represented by the Carroll County Office of the Public Defender.
She was indicted in July on felony murder charges for the March 1 killing of her husband, John D’Anthony III, 72, at their home in the 300 block of Royer Road. She was charged with first- and second-degree murder and vulnerable adult abuse of a family member, according to court documents.
According to a news release from the Carroll County State’s Attorney’s Office, Westminster police officers and emergency medical personnel were called to the D’Anthony home March 1 for a report of a cardiac arrest. When they arrived they found John D’Anthony dead.
His body was taken to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner where an autopsy determined that he suffered extensive injuries, including blunt force trauma throughout his body, lacerations to his mouth, a broken neck, a broken right rib, two black eyes and large contusions to his hands and forearms, the news release stated. The medical examiner determined that John D’Anthony’s injuries were not the result of a fall or a natural death and ruled his death a homicide.
The news release said that while detectives investigated the case, a witness told them that Gail D’Anthony confessed to killing her husband by pushing him to the ground and beating him with a cane.
Gail D’Anthony was arrested June 21 in Cumberland, Allegany County, and was later transported to the Carroll County Detention Center, where she is being held without bail.