VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – A decision from a Volusia County judge is expected to come down soon following a competency hearing for Jean Macean in Daytona Beach. Macean, 33, is accused of randomly attacking, stabbing and killing a couple in Daytona Beach during Bike Week last year and is facing two counts of first-degree murder.
Closing arguments finished Wednesday afternoon. The state is seeking the death penalty against Macean. His defense team has been trying to prove, though, that he is not mentally stable enough to go forward with court hearings right now and needs to receive medical help until doctors determine he is competent enough to keep going.
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“Something very wrong is here for someone this age,” said defense expert, Dr. Geoffery Negin, during the hearing.
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A diagnostic radiologist, Negin studied Macean’s MRIs and other brain scans. He said Macean’s show severe injury or trauma.
“It shows shrinkage of the brain in the temple lobes here, kind of like an Alzheimer’s patient when you look at the canvas and how these structures are they affect memory, limbic system, emotions,” he said.
Macean is accused of randomly attacking Brenda and Terry Aultman in March 2022 on Wild Olive Avenue.
Police said the couple was riding their bicycles home from Bike Week festivities when Macean attacked them with a knife, stabbing them and slashing their throats.
Going into day 2 of competency hearing for Jean Macean, man accused of randomly attacking, stabbing & killing couple in Daytona Beach during Bike Week last year. @news6wkmg pic.twitter.com/iB3cwjPE7P
— Molly Reed (@Mollyreednews) February 1, 2023
Police said he was caught days later in Orlando and admitted to the murders.
“I diagnosed him with schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder based on reported history of physical abuse and also a specific learning disorder,” said another defense witness, psychologist Dr. Valerie McClain.
She said though Macean understood and responded to questions she asked when she met with him, he showed signs of psychosis. She said Macean told her he was severely abused as a child in Haiti before he moved to America at 11 years old.
“On both occasions he experienced auditory hallucinations and visual hallucinations,” she said.
The state’s expert, psychologist Dr. Roger Davis, argued based off his discussions with him, Macean understands the legal process and his past proves he’s competent enough to keep going.
“This period of time where he didn’t receive mental health treatment, this 15 years, he was working,” he said.
Davis said Macean was able to hold a job while claiming to have some of the “most severe psychotic symptoms.”
The judge said a decision will be made in the coming days.
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