Peter O’Neill

Leonardtown, MD — A Charles County man has been sentenced to three years in jail after a state psychiatric facility determined he was competent to stand trial. Peter O’Neill, 43, of Newburg was sentenced Nov. 30 in St. Mary’s County Circuity Court by Judge Michael Stamm.

O’Neill has been in Spring Grove Hospital Center for 659 days. He was originally deemed incompetent to stand trial in 2014 after he failed to appear in court and his mother reported that he had been committed to the psychiatric ward at the University of Maryland Hospital in Baltimore.  Spring Grove subsequently told the courts that O’Neill was still not able to stand trial.

But earlier this year they said O’Neill was ready. The report from the state institution said, “At this time O’Neill remaining competent to stand trial is contingent upon continued psychotropic medication adherence, abstinence from drugs or alcohol, continued psychiatric stability and adherence to all laws.”

O’Neill was originally arrested July 17, 2013 after an accident on Hollywood Road near the Tin Top Hill Lane intersection. The owner of the vehicle in the accident arrived on the scene and told police she had specifically told O’Neill not to drive and that he had taken her car keys while she was asleep. She asked that charges be placed again him.

O’Neill was charged with 13 counts, including driving while under the influence of alcohol and driving with a revoked license, the two charges to which he pled guilty at the Nov. 30 hearing.

At times during the sentencing hearing O’Neill appeared confused about questions being asked him by Judge Stamm. At several points O’Neill’s attorney John Ray, of the La Plata law firm of Mudd, Mudd, & Fitzgerald, had to explain the question and the judge had to repeat it. O’Neill said he was under medication but that he understood what was going on and was able to make his own decisions.

The state originally opposed the incompetency finding for O’Neill because he was a repeat offender, but subsequently went along with the state hospital’s recommendation. The state was represented at the sentencing hearing by Assistant State’s Attorney Jaymi Sterling.

Judge Stamm sentenced O’Neill to three years for the drunk driving charge and one year for the driving while revoked charge, but made the two sentences concurrent. He ordered that O’Neill continue mental health counseling and continue on his prescribed drugs. He was given credit for that almost two years he has been hospitalized so it is possible he could be paroled sometime in the near future.

Contact Dick Myers at dick.myers@thebaynet.com