Man previously convicted of killing officer faces new charges as competency evaluation delays case

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – A man convicted of killing a Lexington police officer faces new charges, but a competency evaluation is slowing down the case.

Glen Doneghy was convicted in 2011 for the hit and run death of a Lexington police officer and sentenced for manslaughter. He was released from prison in 2019 on mandatory re-entry supervision but arrested again on charges of assault and robbery in April.

Doneghy appeared virtually in court on April 8 for his arraignment, but there have been delays in the case.

Preliminary hearing postponed

Doneghy’s preliminary hearing is postponed again. It was first scheduled for April 14, but Doneghy refused to come to court. That’s when a competency evaluation was ordered for him. On April 28 he came to court but the competency evaluation was not finished. On June 2, the evaluation is still not complete.

Doneghy’s preliminary hearing is now rescheduled to July 14 at 8:30 a.m. in Fayette District Court.

“I just spoke with Mr. Doneghy here, he has not been video evaluated yet so we are still waiting on that,” Doneghy’s attorney said in court.

Competency evaluation process

Legal expert and Lexington attorney Abe Mashni said during a competency evaluation the defendant will see a psychiatrist and take an assessment to determine whether or not the person can rationally participate in the defense.

“They have a right to be assessed and they have a right to be determined whether or not they’re competent or not,” Mashni said.

Chapter 504 of Kentucky’s statutes outlines competency, Mashni said every criminal defendant has a right to be competent in every stage of proceedings. People can be found competent, incompetent, or the court can say the person could gain competency in the foreseeable future, which Mashni said means 365 days.

“If they are ruled not competent, then the prosecution could ask for a second opinion, but ultimately there’s a hearing in which the judge has to determine whether or not the defendant is competent,” Mashni said.

Mashni said there are backlogs for these evaluations in the system.

“I’ve had one that took about eight months and that’s not uncommon,” Mashni said. “If the state and the government is going to incarcerate somebody, take their freedoms away, at bare minimum, we want to know can they grasp the concept of what type of proceedings we’re in and can we rationally participate in the defense,” Mashni said.

Mashni said competency evaluations can start with basic questions like “do you know why you’re here.” He said if they determine the person can never become competent, the charges could get dismissed.