Mental report sought in case question
The attorney for a Butler man charged with hundreds of counts of sexual assault questioned the sanity of his client's accuser during a Monday hearing before county Judge William Shaffer.
Devin Colin O'Leary, who represents 35-year-old Garrett A. Luttrell, asked the court to force the teenage victim to undergo an evaluation to determine the girl's mental health status. He further asked Shaffer to make the girl's complete mental health records available to the defense.
“My concern is that the bulk of this case will be on a person who has been in a mental health inpatient facility twice,” O'Leary said. “She has problems with lying, manipulating and cheating. We want to determine if she understands her obligation to tell the truth.”
According to O'Leary, the victim lodged similar accusations over the past few years against other people. However, the investigations stemming from those accusations did not result in criminal charges being brought against anyone other than his client.
Assistant District Attorney Patricia McLean called O'Leary's request “almost outrageous,” adding that the victim is “presumed competent.”
“The fact that the other accusations were unfounded does not mean it didn't happen. Those are different things,” McLean said.
McLean also addressed the victim's mental health, arguing that the girl was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder. She countered that the girl's disorder is not pathological in nature, as the defense argued. She asked Shaffer to deny the motion in its entirety.
Shaffer is expected to make a decision in the near future.
Luttrell faces 470 criminal counts in the case. Felony charges include statutory sexual assault, 156 counts each of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and aggravated indecent assault and corruption of minors. He also faces 156 misdemeanor counts of indecent assault.
He is free on $100,000 bond.
Authorities launched an investigation into Luttrell in April 2018 after a 13-year-old girl told staff with the county's Children & Youth Services department that she witnessed Luttrell sexually assaulting another girl, which turned out to be the victim in the case.
According to court documents, the girl told police and CYS workers that Luttrell had sexually abused her over a period of several years between June 2014 and April 2018, starting when she was about 11 years old. She told investigators the abuse occurred at Luttrell's home on Carnegie Street, and he warned her not to tell anyone, saying he would go to jail and would kill himself.
