Doctors say the man who killed Cincinnati housing activist Buddy Gray no longer needs to be in a maximum-security mental health facility.

        But Hamilton County prosecutors say Wilbur Worthen is still too dangerous for a low-security hospital.

        Mr. Worthen, 60, will get a hearing within the next month to determine where he should go next.

        For the past three years, he has been housed in Dayton at the Twin Valley Psychiatric facility. His doctors there recommend he be transferred to Cincinnati's Summit Behavior Health Care center, formerly the Pauline Warfield Lewis Center.

        “It is the treatment team's opinion that Wilbur Worthen no longer requires a maximum security setting,” wrote Dr. Douglas Lehrer in an Oct. 13 letter to Mr. Worthen's judge and prosecutors.

        Prosecutor Mike Allen said he will oppose any attempt to loosen security around Mr. Worthen.

        He said police records show that four to five forensic patients — the same designation as Mr. Worthen — walk away from the Summit facility each year.

        “This is obviously an extremely dangerous individual,” Mr. Allen said. “He should be in a very secure facility, which (Summit) is not.”

        Mr. Worthen has admitted shooting Stanley “Buddy” Gray three times on Nov. 15, 1996 at the Drop-Inn Center, which Mr. Gray directed in Over-the-Rhine.

        Mr. Worthen said Mr. Gray was trying to kill him by pumping poison gas into his apartment.

        Common Pleas Judge Richard Niehaus declared Mr. Worthen not guilty by reason of insanity.

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