Tuesday, August 17, 1999
Lawson can go to trial in slaying
BY STEVE KEMME
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HAMILTON — A judge ruled Monday that James Lee Lawson, a Middletown man who is accused of killing a 34-year-old woman and dismembering her body, is mentally competent to stand trial.
A date for his trial will be set later this week.
Mr. Lawson, 29, is accused of killing Cheryl Ann Durkin of Madison Township in late February 1998, cutting up her body with a power saw and coaxing his family members to hide the body parts. Two months later, her torso was found in the Great Miami River in Hamilton.
Mr. Lawson has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to murder, gross abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence. A psychiatrist hired by the prosecution concluded that Mr. Lawson was competent to stand trial.
John Rion, Mr. Lawson's attorney, did not challenge the competency report's conclusions. He said an evaluation of Mr. Lawson by a psychiatrist hired by the defense reached identical conclusions.
According to the report, Mr. Lawson said Ms. Durkin was hiding in a closet at his home, and he thought she was going to attack him, so he hit her in the head with a hammer. Later he cut up her body and, with the help of his mother, disposed of it.
Mr. Lawson's mother, Ellen Kay Peck, 47, was sentenced last October to four years in prison for obstructing justice and tampering with evidence.
Mr. Lawson was captured Nov. 27 after a two-month nationwide manhunt.
Nine of Ms. Durkin's relatives attended the hearing.
The ruling on competency by Judge Patricia Oney of Butler County Common Pleas Court doesn't affect Mr. Lawson's ability to maintain his insanity plea, Mr. Rion said.
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Lawson can go to trial in slaying
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