Seehaver remanded to Mendota Mental Health Institute for medication and treatment
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — A Dunn County judge has placed court proceedings on hold and has remanded former Colfax resident Richard Seehaver to the Mendota Mental Institute for medication and treatment to restore his competency.
Judge Rod Smeltzer ordered Seehaver, 52, to be sent to Mendota during a court hearing February 28 after the court received a competency evaluation completed by Dr. Donna Minter, a clinical psychologist.
Seehaver is charged with first degree intentional homicide in the death of John M. Likeness, 54, at Likeness’s home in Menomonie on the afternoon of December 30.
Likeness also was originally from Colfax and graduated from Colfax High School in 1982.
Mendota is a public psychiatric hospital in Madison operated by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
Dunn County District Attorney Andrea Nodolf and Seehaver’s attorney, Charles Huff, both said they had reviewed the competency evaluation. Huff also noted to the court that he had reviewed the evaluation with Seehaver.
Dr. Minter indicates that Seehaver’s competency will be restored with medication and treatment, Judge Smeltzer said.
After Seehaver is determined to be competent, he will return to the court for further proceedings, he said.
Judge Smeltzer also found Seehaver was incompetent to refuse medication or treatment.
When asked if he agreed with the judge’s order to send him to Mendota for treatment and that he was not competent to refuse treatment, Seehaver answered, “yes.”
Court proceedings can be suspended for a period not to exceed 12 months, Nodolf said.
Judge Smeltzer agreed to set a status hearing in six months.
The judge said he and Seehaver “know each other a little bit,” and that Seehaver has appeared before Judge Smeltzer in the past when Seehaver was on medication.
Judge Smeltzer said it was his observation Seehaver is competent when he is taking medication.
A status hearing is scheduled in Dunn County Circuit Court on September 9 at 9:30 a.m.
According to the criminal complaint, the Menomonie Police Department received a 911 call at about 3:18 p.m. Sunday, December 30, 2018, from an unknown man reporting an altercation at 603 Fifteenth Street SE in Menomonie.
A police officer banged on the window of the house with his flashlight to get Seehaver’s attention, and when Seehaver walked toward the window and asked the identity of the officer, the officer saw blood on Seehaver’s face and on his clothing. Seehaver then came outside and told officers his “house mate might be inside,” according to the complaint.
The provisional report from the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office by Dr. Kelly Mills indicates Likeness sustained a crossbow wound to the left chest and three sharp force injuries to the neck. Dr. Mills reported the cause of death was the crossbow wound, and the manner of death was homicide.
Seehaver told investigators he had shot Likeness with a crossbow while Likeness was sitting in a chair, and when investigators asked if Likeness had died right away, Seehaver said, “No, I had to cut his throat, too,” according to the complaint.
Judge Smeltzer had previously set a cash bail of $200,000 for Seehaver, but at a January 14 court hearing, based on a review of the criminal complaint filed with the court, the judge increased Seehaver’s bail to $500,000 cash.
Seehaver is charged with one Class A felony count of first degree intentional homicide with modifiers of domestic abuse, as a repeat offender and with the use of a dangerous weapon.
If convicted of the Class A felony, Seehaver faces life in prison.
According to the criminal complaint, Seehaver told investigators he had lived in the house with Likeness for a few months and had lived with Likeness in Cedar Falls before that.
Seehaver told investigators “that for the past 52 years, he had been reared for his role in an evil organization to take part in the ‘upper echelon’ of troopers. The defendant explained that to get into the upper echelon, he had to make a choice,” according to the criminal complaint.
Investigators asked what had happened to Likeness, and Seehaver said he had felt sorry for him. When investigators asked what Seehaver had done about feeling sorry for Likeness, Seehaver said he had “put him out of his misery.” When asked how he had done that, Seehaver said, “I shot him,” according to the complaint.
Huff, Seehaver’s attorney, told Judge Smeltzer at the January 14 court hearing that he was raising issues about Seehaver’s competency.
Huff said he’d had several opportunities to speak with Seehaver over the previous week, and he was concerned about Seehaver being competent to assist in his own defense but also was concerned about Seehaver’s competency at the time of Likeness’s death on December 30.
Based on those concerns, Judge Smeltzer ordered a competency evaluation for Seehaver.
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