LOCKPORT – A Niagara Falls man accused of a burglary, who aborted his trial last month by checking into a hospital’s mental health unit, has been found mentally competent to go through a second trial, set for May 28.
Edward J. Parmer, 52, of 22nd Street, was taken to the Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center behavior health unit March 11, after jury selection had been completed. Two doctors have found him competent, a development Assistant Public Defender A. Joseph Catalano attributed to new medications for Parmer.
“He’s like a new man,” Niagara County Judge Sara Sheldon Farkas said as Parmer stood before her Friday. He is being held in the County Jail on charges of second-degree burglary, fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property and petit larceny, stemming from an alleged July 18 break-in at a house on Willow Avenue in the Falls.
Edward J. Parmer, 52, of 22nd Street, was taken to the Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center behavior health unit March 11, after jury selection had been completed. Two doctors have found him competent, a development Assistant Public Defender A. Joseph Catalano attributed to new medications for Parmer.
“He’s like a new man,” Niagara County Judge Sara Sheldon Farkas said as Parmer stood before her Friday. He is being held in the County Jail on charges of second-degree burglary, fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property and petit larceny, stemming from an alleged July 18 break-in at a house on Willow Avenue in the Falls.