A woman charged in a bizarre bank robbery in which a pizza deliveryman wore a bomb that ultimately killed him is not mentally competent to stand trial, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Sean McLaughlin agreed with a defense expert that Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong has bipolar disorder. The judge also noted her inability to work with her court-appointed lawyer.
He ordered her placed under the federal government's custody for hospitalization and treatment. He asked to be notified in 120 days — if she doesn't become competent before then — whether it is likely that she will become competent to stand trial at some point.
Diehl-Armstrong, 59, of Erie, and Kenneth Barnes were indicted in July on bank robbery, conspiracy and a firearms violation in the August 2003 robbery that left pizza deliveryman Brian Wells dead.
Wells, 46, told police he was forced at gunpoint to wear a bomb around his neck and rob the PNC Bank outside Erie. As officers waited for a bomb squad, the device exploded, killing him. Wells was named as an unindicted coconspirator, but his family says he was innocent.
Authorities contend Diehl-Armstrong planned to use the bank money to hire someone to kill her father.
Federal prosecutors had contended at a May competency hearing that she was competent — as did Diehl-Armstrong.
U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan declined to say if she disagreed with the finding, but said the judge had a lot of evidence to consider and that Diehl-Armstrong has a lengthy and complex medical history.
It's in everyone's interest, including the Department of Justice, to make sure defendants are competent to stand trial and if there's ever any question whatsoever, the ruling that the judge made allows the defendant to receive the proper medical care to assure her competency at trial, she said.
The Federal Public Defender's Office, which is handling her case, declined to comment, citing policy.
At the hearing, Dr. Robert Sadoff, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, testified that Diehl-Armstrong absolutely has bipolar disorder. He has known her since the 1980s and said she's had the condition for a number of years.
Sadoff's testimony contradicted that of Dr. William J. Ryan, a forensic psychologist with the federal Bureau of Prisons.
Ryan testified that she does not have bipolar disorder and had been previously misdiagnosed. He said she has a borderline personality disorder, can be paranoid of people and has a somewhat inflated view of herself, but was competent.
In his findings, McLaughlin recounted Diehl-Armstrong's long history with the mental health system.
After she was arrested in 1984 on charges she shot to death her boyfriend Robert Thomas, authorities uncovered a bizarre inventory of foodstuffs including, among other things, almost 400 pounds of butter and over 700 pounds of cheese, much of which was not refrigerated and rotting, McLaughlin noted.
She was acquitted of homicide in the case in 1988.
Diehl-Armstrong is serving seven to 20 years in state prison after pleading guilty but mentally ill to killing boyfriend James Roden, 45, in 2003. Prosecutors said she killed Roden because she feared he would tell authorities of the bank robbery plot.
Diehl-Armstrong and Barnes have pleaded not guilty.
