MOUNT DORA, Fla. — A Lake County judge was forced to clear his courtroom during the middle of testimony Wednesday after a murder suspect spit and urinated on herself during her competency hearing.
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Vickie Williams is accused of stabbing an elderly couple to death in their Mt. Dora home in December 2022 in what detectives called a random act.
Police said Williams was later found with the victims’ car in Georgia.
Williams’ attorney trotted out four different experts, including the mental health supervisor at the Lake County Jail, who testified that she was psychotic and schizophrenic.
They said she arrived at the jail exhibiting normal behavior, but approximately four to six weeks into her stay – around the time she began interacting with other inmates and when prosecutors put the death penalty on the table – she began refusing to use a toilet and only showered when forced.
They said conversations with her were limited, she saw ghosts during meetings with her attorneys and she spent much of her time dancing in her single cell.
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“I’ve never had her do something in a day that was not psychotic in nature,” Howard Lawrence testified.
Williams appeared to not know who her attorney was when she arrived to the hearing Wednesday morning.
However, prosecutors said it was all an act, and produced three deputies who supervised Williams’ cell block who testified she behaved normally when no one was looking.
Two of them said they had conversations with her where she acknowledged she was faking it to help her case and she wasn’t sorry for what she did.
“I’m still going to keep acting crazy, I know everything is recorded, I’m going to use it for my case,” one deputy recalled her saying.
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It was during the middle of Jeffrey Dazinger’s cross examination that the hearing derailed. Williams was seen spitting onto the floor.
Seconds later, the attorneys conferenced with the judge, who asked everyone to leave the room. One deputy was seen wheeling Williams’ wet chair out into the hallway for cleaning. An attorney confirmed she had urinated on herself.
Williams did not return to the hearing once Dazinger, who was called by the defense to confirm Williams’ incompetence, resumed answering questions.
“It’s hard to fake consistently talking nonsense,” he said. “With appropriate treatment there is a reasonable chance at reestablishment of competency within six months.”
The judge did not immediately rule Wednesday, but said an order would be forthcoming.
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