Court Watching: Jared Ritchie competent for preliminary exam, set for March 12

By Diane Madigan
Independent Court Reporter
The results of a psychiatric competency order issued by Judge Brian Oakley on Dec. 18 found Jared Dean Meeks Ritchie, 18, competent to stand for a preliminary exam.
Ritchie, a Sumpter Township resident, is accused of shooting his step-brother with a shotgun on Oct. 27 at their home in the 23000 block of Elwell Road. He then took off and Sumpter Police used Nixle and Facebook alerts to find him. Ritchie had to be retrieved from Oklahoma by federal marshals, who arrested him in Tulsa as he got off a Greyhound bus.
Ritchie is charged with six felonies; assault with intent to murder, armed robbery, assault with intent to do great bodily harm, felony assault with a dangerous weapon, felony firearms, and discharging a weapon in or at a building.
On Feb. 26, 34th District Court Chief Judge Tina Brooks Green approved the stipulation/agreement between Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Kristen Capling and Ritchie’s court-appointed attorney David Lankford, and ordered a preliminary examination on March 12, although Judge Green said it should have been scheduled for Feb. 26.
Sumpter Township Detective John Toth was unable to be in court for the case on Feb. 26 because of illness.
A cash bond of $100,000 was continued and Capling said they will start to find the witnesses.