With the judge in the case last week agreeing to have him examined at Western State Hospital for fitness to stand trial, here is what comes next in the legal proceedings to try the mentally ill man charged with the brutal Thanksgiving week hatchet murder of 14th Ave resident Joe LaMagno.

26-year-old Michael LaRosa, charged with one murder and suspected in another and who has told police he has been “diagnosed as being schizophrenic and Bi-Polar,” saying he was hearing voices in the time leading up to his violence, faced a battery of tests at a facility located south of Tacoma. According to the document authorizing his examination, if doctors deem it necessary, LaRosa was to be assessed by both a psychiatrist and a psychologist and testing could include psychological and medical tests. The document also states that that LaRosa may undergo “voluntary treatment” facilitated by Western.

(Image: John Lok/THE SEATTLE TIMES with permission)
Seattle Times examines LaRosa’s struggles with mental health and violence, here.

In interviews with police after his arrest for the Monday, November 22 hatchet murder at 15th and Union, LaRosa told police he had stopped taking his medication because it “did not make him feel good and he did not like the side effects.” LaRosa told police he was a patient at 16th Ave’s Sound Mental Health.

Western’s report on LaRosa is required to cover the following:

C(l). A description of the nature ofthe examination;

C(2). A diagnosis of the defendant’s mental condition;

C(3). COMPETENCY: an opinion as to the defendant’s capacity to understand the

proceedings and to assist in defendant’s own defense; If the report concludes the defendant is

incompetent to proceed, an opinion whether psychotropic medications are necessary and

appropriate to restore the defendant’s competency;

C(4). An opinion as to whether the defendant is a substantial danger to other persons or

presents a substantial likelihood of committing criminal acts jeopardizing public safety or

security, unless kept under further control by the court or other persons, as required by RCW

C(S). An opinion as to whether the defendant should be evaluated by a County Designated

Mental Health Professional under RCW 71.05.

According to the document, LaRosa can be held at Western for up to 15 days. The next appearance in judge Robinson Palmer’s courtroom is scheduled for two weeks from today, Tuesday, December 28.

The 58-year-old victim LaMagno was remembered by his neighborhood in a vigil the Tuesday night after his death.