The judge confirmed the assessment of the woman accused of wounding News, Sports, Work

Erb

HOLLIDAYSBURG — A Blair County judge has authorized a psychiatric evaluation for an Altoona woman charged in 2021 with attempted murder after she was accused of stabbing a 70-year-old woman in the neck.

Senior Judge Timothy M. Sullivan on Friday authorized an evaluation of Shannon B. Erb, 47, requested by the district attorney’s office in response to a psychiatric evaluation that found Erb incompetent to stand trial and unlikely to be restored to legal capacity.

First Assistant Public Defender Julia Burke, who filed a motion to dismiss Erb in September, did not object to the district attorney’s request that Erb be evaluated by Dr. John O’Brien II, a Philadelphia psychiatrist.

Burke said Erb remains hospitalized at Torrance State Hospital in Westmoreland County under a civil bond. She had been in the facility since May 2022, when she was transferred there from the Blair County Jail. In Torrance, Erb was treated for psychotic and delusional symptoms, according to court documents.

“Due to the significant amount of time, her lack of improvement and the professional medical opinion of (Torrance psychiatrist) Dr. Matthew Lang, it is unlikely that she will be restored to capacity,” Burke said in a motion to indict. to be released

First Assistant District Attorney Nicole Smith secured Sullivan’s permission to promote O’Brien to Erb’s competency evaluation.

Pennsylvania law allows a court to stay proceedings against a legally incompetent person for the lesser of 10 years or the statutory maximum term of the crime charged.

“In this case (Erb) is charged with attempted murder with a statutory maximum of 40 years,” Smith wrote in her request for O’Brien’s services. “Therefore, this court can suspend the proceedings against the defendant for a period of up to 10 years to restore her legal capacity.”

Smith suggested that O’Brien’s examination include his opinion on Erb’s legal incompetence and whether there is a reasonable likelihood that Erb will regain competency within the next seven years, reflecting her 2021 arrest.

Burke, in her motion to dismiss the charges, outlined Torrens’ repeated requests and subsequent authorizations to extend Erb’s stay and treatment at the facility. The defense attorney also noted that the facility is using maximum resources to treat Erb and is not seeing improvement.

Altoona police arrested Erb, then 44, on Sept. 5, 2021, after he responded to a call at the IDA Tower, 1010 12th St., at 4:47 a.m. for what was reported to be an assault.

Officers said when they arrived, the victim was on the balcony with her hand around her neck, covered in blood, yelling to them, “She’s in the living room.”

After breaking a glass door to enter the building, police went to a second-floor apartment where Erb was waiting.

The police reported that the victim was bleeding profusely from a laceration on the neck and a stab wound in the upper part of the chest. Police said they provided medical treatment until EMS arrived and transported the woman to UPMC Altoona.

Criminal charges say Erb admitted at the scene and during a meeting with detectives at police headquarters to the stabbing, which she said was the result of an argument when the victim told her to be quiet. Before the altercation, Erb told police she was on the balcony yelling at someone who wasn’t there.

Police found a 15-inch kitchen knife believed to have been used in the stabbing.

In addition to attempted murder, police charged Erb with aggravated assault/attempt to cause or cause serious bodily injury with gross indifference and aggravated assault/attempt to cause or attempt to cause serious bodily injury with a deadly weapon and reckless endangerment of another person.

Mirror staff member Kay Stevens is at 814-946-7456.