PORT ANGELES — Scott Lincoln Davis, the man charged with first-degree attempted murder and first-degree assault for his role in a January shoot-out with a Clallam County sheriff’s deputy, is still waiting to find out if and when he will face trial.
Lawyers have expressed frustration in recent pre-trial hearings on the delay of results of a mental evaluation from Western State Hospital that will determine whether Davis is competent to stand trial.
Clallam County Superior Court Judge Ken Williams on Friday postponed a trial-setting hearing for two weeks. Williams reset the matter for July 10 at 1:30 p.m.
“This is, to a great extent, well beyond my control,” defense attorney Harry Gasnick said Friday.
Davis has had trial-setting hearings every Friday this month.
“Yeah, it’s been dragging,” said Andrew Lauer, deputy prosecuting attorney, Monday.
“I thought I would have had [the reports] by now.”
Davis, 59, is accused of firing at Sheriff’s Deputy Bill Cortani on Jan. 19 at a vacant beachfront property outside of Sekiu.
Cortani was trying to arrest Davis for investigation of trespassing at a cabin near Milepost 7 on state Highway 112.
On May 12, the court found Davis mentally incompetent to stand trial and ordered him to undergo mental treatment for up to 15 days at Western State Hospital in Tacoma.
The judge extended the treatment for 15 days May 20.
Davis had been transported to Western State Hospital in April but returned to Clallam County when a scheduling conflict cut the evaluation short.
If Davis is still found to be mentally unfit to stand trial, he could be placed in a mental health facility indefinitely.
Court documents show Davis, of Silverdale, fired at Cortani with a handgun until he ran out of ammunition, then retrieved a double-barrel shotgun from his car and pointed it at the Forks lawman.
Cortani had taken cover behind driftwood. He returned fire in self defense, hitting Davis in the stomach and left arm while sustaining wounds to the arm and hip.
Both men were treated at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
Cortaini, 41, has since returned to his beat.
Davis was most recently readmitted into the Clallam County jail June 3. He is being held in lieu of $500,000 bond.
Lauer declined to speculate on when a trial might take place or if such a trial will occur.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
