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Ashleigh Joplin [former]
- December 1, 2022
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Defense counsel representing a first-degree murder defendant did not submit to a report deeming his client competent during a mental health court hearing on Nov. 30.
Defense attorney Romel Showell informed Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Gale Rasin that Christopher Straham had refused to speak with him in recent weeks. He reported that despite being found competent, another doctor who views him on a regular base said he was acting bizarrely.
“How can I defend him if he won’t talk to me?” Showell asked Judge Raisin during the hearing on Wednesday. Defense counsel requested that Circuit Court Medical mediate a meeting between Showell and Straham.
Officers had difficulty getting Straham to leave his dwelling for the hearing, so the laptop had to be brought to him. He could be heard inaudibly yelling in the background.
Straham is charged with first-degree murder, having a deadly weapon with the intent to injure, armed robbery, and attempted arm robbery in connection with an incident that occurred on Dec. 2, 2016.
Judge Rasin ordered all parties to reconvene on Jan. 11 in hopes that a doctor could mediate a discussion.