The Kentucky Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a trial court erred by not requiring a competency hearing for Michael McIntosh, convicted of fatally shooting Newport High School basketball standout Anthony “Petey” Greene in 1999.

        The court returned the case to Campbell Circuit Court for the limited purpose of holding a competency hearing to determine if Mr. McIntosh was sane at the time of the crime.

        The guilty verdict would be thrown out if Mr. McIntosh is found not to have been competent, a move that Campbell County Commonwealth Attorney Jack Porter said is unlikely.

        “I think it is easily proven that he was competent and not insane at the time he committed the offense,” Mr. Porter said.

        A court-ordered psychiatric evaluation in October 1999 concluded that Mr. McIntosh was sane and did not meet the criteria for an insanity defense.

        “Mr. McIntosh is well able to appreciate the nature and consequences of the legal proceedings he is facing and is able to assist rationally in his own defense,” psychiatrist Steven J. Simon wrote in a two-page report.

        Mr. Porter said Thursday's order means that trial courts across Kentucky will have to hold competency hearings even when neither side requests one.

        The Supreme Court said a hearing would have allowed Dr. Simon to have been cross-examined.

        “I'm concerned any time the Supreme Court sends back a case where there has been some kind of error,” Mr. Porter said. “But I'm not concerned the verdict will be overturned in this particular case.”

        Mr. McIntosh, a juvenile tried as an adult, was convicted in April 2000 of murder and criminal attempt to commit first-degree manslaughter. He is serving a life sentence.

        Mr. McIntosh killed Mr. Greene when a street argument erupted into gunfire in July 1999. Mr. Greene, who was not part of the argument, was shot in the chest while trying to protect a friend.

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