St. Louis Post-Dispatch
WASHINGTON COUNTY, Mo. — A judge has again deemed a man accused of killing a Washington County deputy in 2012 mentally incompetent to stand trial.
Associate Circuit Judge Troy Hyde’s order said “there is no substantial probability that” Gary Sancegrow, 34, can proceed to trial “in the foreseeable future.” Sancegrow has been confined at the Fulton State Hospital.
Sancegrow “is not competent to proceed because he does not have sufficient present ability to consult with his attorneys with a reasonable degree or rational understanding and that he does not have a rational as well as factual understanding of the proceedings against him,” Hyde wrote.
Hyde’s ruling keeps Sancegrow under in the state mental health care system and orders the dismissal of charges of first-degree murder and armed criminal action against him in the Dec. 15, 2012, shooting death of Deputy Christopher Parsons, 31. Parsons had gone to a home on Nugget Road in the Mineral Point area to accompany an ambulance in response to a 911 call from a belligerent caller.
Sancegrow shot Parsons, then fled, according to authorities. Sancegrow turned himself in after a 16-hour manhunt following the shooting of Parsons, who had been on the job for two months.
Sancegrow has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, for which he takes anti-psychotic medication, court records say. Sancegrow will remain under the care of the Department of Mental Health.
Sancegrow was already deemed mentally unfit for trial in 2013 but Attorney General Chris Koster’s office, which was prosecuting the case, argued Sancegrow should be discharged from the state hospital to stand trial in Washington County Circuit Court.