Site last updated: Friday, October 2, 2026

Log In

Reset Password
Butler County's great daily newspaper

Mental health test requested

ERIE — A co-defendant in the bizarre collar-bomb death of a pizza deliveryman in an Erie bank robbery says he is mentally incompetent to stand trial.

Kenneth Barnes' lawyers filed the motion on Monday.

Meanwhile, Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong, another co-defendant, is undergoing a mental evaluation. She says she will likely be found incompetent to stand trial. She told the Erie Times-News that the findings could be made official by Friday.

In August 2003, Brian Wells robbed a PNC Bank near Erie. He told police he had been forced at gunpoint to wear a bomb around his neck and rob the bank. The device exploded, killing Wells.

Diehl-Armstrong is in prison for killing her boyfriend. Prosecutors say she killed him so he could not tell authorities about the bank robbery plot.

By Associated Press

More in Pennsylvania News

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter

* indicates required
TODAY'S PHOTOS