Letecia Stauch
Colorado woman Letecia Leann Stauch, 37, has once again been found competent to stand trial for allegedly murdering her stepson Gannon Stauch, 11.
BREAKING: Second evaluation says that #LeteciaStauch is competent to proceed with the case, just like the first evaluation found.
Now planning the next steps for a case, but Stauch is now trying to have a conflict hearing issued.
— Spencer Wilson (@Spencer_WNews) January 19, 2021
Judge says #LeteciaStauch‘s request for a different attorney will be closed to the public, and @4thJudicialDA will not be privy to whatever happens in there.
They will figure that part out on their own.
— Spencer Wilson (@Spencer_WNews) January 19, 2021
This was Stauch’s second competency examination. The first, conducted by a hospital, also determined she was competent to stand trial. Her defense demanded another evaluation. The prosecution conceded, and it turns out the prosecution got its way at the end of it all. As things stand, Stauch will likely face a jury for allegedly murdering Gannon at their home on January 27, 2020, while the rest of the family was out.
Also of note at the Tuesday hearing was that there was additional security requested after the second mental evaluation.
El Paso County District Attorney Michael Allen (R) kept the reasoning behind this vague.
“That was just a concern that came up in the second competency evaluation, and then I’m going to leave it at that,” he said. “I don’t want to share those details at this point. It would potentially would create some issues for us in court.”
Stauch’s alleged behavior in custody has been a recurring issue since her arrest last March. She allegedly slipped out of her handcuffs and attacked a deputy, plotted a jail escape, and claimed to have received threats in her peanut butter. In a jailhouse interview, she suggested that she might have post-traumatic stress disorder.
To put it gently, cops don’t think the defendant is a reliable narrator on what happened to her stepson. In the arrest affidavit, she reported Gannon missing to authorities, claiming that he disappeared after going to his friend’s house. Cops said, however, that Stauch did not actually go to any neighboring homes to find Gannon, and that she neither recalled the names of the friends he was meant to be playing with nor the names of the friends’ parents. Suspicious behavior included lying repeatedly, falsely reporting a rape, and disconnecting her cell phone for an extended period of time.
Stauch murdered her stepson in his bedroom, police said. Investigators cited evidence that blood was spattered on the walls, stained the child’s mattress, soaked his carpet, and stained the concrete under his bed.
Gannon was reportedly shot, stabbed, and stuffed in a suitcase. The victim was found dead in Florida.
[Mugshot via El Paso County Sheriff’s Office]
