LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — A judge has found Julie Sulpizio competent to stand trial on charges stemming from a 2024 ambush that killed one Lake County deputy and wounded two others.
Circuit Judge Brian Welke signed the order Wednesday after considering testimony from three mental health experts, medical records, evaluation videos and Sulpizio’s behavior during a seven-hour competency hearing in June.
Click here for previous coverage of the competency hearing
“Although mentally ill, Defendant is able to communicate with counsel and understand the charges and proceedings against her,” Welke wrote.
The judge also found that Sulpizio has a sufficiently factual and rational understanding of the case against her.
The ruling allows the criminal case to proceed. A competency finding does not address Sulpizio’s guilt or innocence.
Sulpizio was indicted on nine charges, including principal to premeditated first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer in the death of Master Deputy Bradley Link.
She also faces three counts of principal to attempted first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, battery on a law enforcement officer and three additional battery charges.
Prosecutors have said they intend to seek the death penalty.
Sulpizio was found incompetent to proceed in February 2025 and was committed to a state hospital for treatment. The hospital reported in March that she had been restored to competency, but her attorneys challenged that finding.
During the June hearing, defense psychologists Julie Harper and Yenys Castillo testified that Sulpizio understood factual information about the charges and court system but could not rationally assist with her defense.
The order says Sulpizio has been diagnosed with mental illnesses that include dissociative and bipolar disorders. The defense experts testified that she believes religious figures can possess her and other people involved in the case.
State psychologist Jason Demery testified that Sulpizio was mentally ill but met the legal requirements to stand trial. He said she understood the charges, the possible penalties and the roles of her attorneys, prosecutors, the judge and a jury.
Welke also noted that Sulpizio remained attentive throughout the hearing, did not make any outbursts and displayed no behavior suggesting she could not conduct herself appropriately during a trial.
The charges stem from an Aug. 2, 2024, shooting at a home on Brookside Drive near Eustis.
Deputies said they were met with gunfire after entering the home. Link was shot and killed, while Master Deputy Harold Howell and Deputy First Class Stefano Gargano were wounded.
Sulpizio’s husband, Michael, and her adult daughters, Cheyenne and Savannah, were later found dead inside the home from self-inflicted gunshot wounds, investigators said.
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