Defense Attorney Asks for Outside Competency Evaluation Pre-Sentencing

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The defense attorney of a convicted shooter requested another hearing to provide a second opinion regarding her client’s competency after a Baltimore City Circuit Court found him mentally competent prior to sentencing.

Desmond Lark, 34, was convicted at trial Aug. 21 of first- and second-degree assault, firearm use in a felony violent crime, having a handgun on his person and discharging a firearm in the city on June 1, 2023, on the 5300 block of Frankford Avenue.

He was initially sent to mental health court on Sept. 25 after refusing to answer the judge’s questions during sentencing.

In mental health court Oct. 9, Judge Gale E. Rasin found Lark competent, agreeing with the evaluation completed by Circuit Court doctors. The medical experts diagnosed Lark with malingering — a falsification or profound exaggeration of illness — and found him competent.

Defense attorney Roya Hanna said she needed to ask the Office of the Public Defender for another expert to evaluate Lark.

She also requested another date in mental health court, but Judge Rasin instead issued her ruling finding Lark competent to be sentenced before Judge Jennifer B. Schiffer on Oct. 11.