Mental health evaluators believe that, with medication, Michael LaRosa is fit to stand trial. LaRosa has been charged with two murders, including the murder of Joe LaMagno at 15th and Union in November.
From CHS:
The court proceedings for the two charges of murder against Michael LaRosa continue this week with what is expected to be a continuation filed by his lawyers in preparation to defend their client for the killing of two men with an axe on the streets of Seattle this past November. One of those Thanksgiving week murders happened at the corner of 15th and Union and left neighborhood resident Joe LaMagno dead in the snow after a brutal blow to the head. From documents compiled by doctors who evaluated LaRosa at Western State Hospital, CHS has learned more about the accused murderer, his mental illness and the findings that, with treatment, he is fit to stand trial.
LaRosa is currently in prison but for a time in January, he was sent to Western State Hospital to be evaluated for his mental competency to face the murder charges. CHS has reviewed the report redacted for public release from forensic psychiatrists Margaret Dean and Glenn Morrison. It reveals LaRosa’s troubled past including physical and sexual abuse, extensive drug use and his battles with mental illness. It also documents the doctors’ belief that LaRosa was exaggerating some of his psychotic symptoms and lays out the case for why they believe that, with medication and treatment, the 26-year-old is fit to stand trial despite his history of bi-polar behavior and schizophrenia — or, as the report terms it, his “severe mental illness.”