ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – A 20-year-old man accused of killing three people and injuring two others in a shooting spree in Pine Hills last year is competent to stand trial, an Orange County judge ruled Thursday.
Keith Moses was arrested in February in the fatal shootings of Nathacha Augustin, 38; T’yonna Major, 9; and TV reporter Dylan Lyons, 24. He is also accused of shooting Brandi Major, the 9-year-old girl’s mother, and 29-year-old Jesse Walden, a Spectrum News 13 photographer.
Moses faces a possible death sentence if convicted.
[EXCLUSIVE: Become a News 6 Insider (it’s FREE) | PINIT! Share your photos]
During a hearing Thursday, a licensed psychologist and forensic psychologist testified about recent mental screenings and series of tests they individually conducted on Moses inside the Orange County Jail last October and November.
“My opinion is that Mr. Moses does not present any active symptoms of a mental illness that would be impairing his competency to proceed. He is likely competent, but unwilling to proceed,’ said Chelsea Bennett, one of the psychologists. “He reported some psychological symptoms like visual hallucinations and auditory hallucinations, but when I asked a few more questions he said, ‘I don’t want to talk about it.’ He was very limited on what he provided in terms of his history.”
Last September, the judge ordered that Moses be examined by a medical doctor and a psychologist.
“I did diagnose him with a couple of things — one of those is malingering. The other is the specified personality disorder with anti-social features,” said Katherine Oses, a forensic psychologist. “A personality disorder is a prevailing pattern to responding to certain events in a person’s life. Given his legal history as a juvenile, the behavioral difficulties in school — which in one report was 35 suspensions in one grade — so I likely diagnosed him with a pervasive pattern suggesting an anti-social feature involving the legal system.”
Last year, a grand jury formally charged Moses on 16 charges, including first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and armed burglary. Former Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell announced that her office would seek the death penalty against Moses.
The judge said jury selection is currently planned to begin June 24.
Get today’s headlines in minutes with Your Florida Daily: