PARIS — A judge ordered mental evaluations Tuesday for a Denmark woman charged with murder in the stabbing deaths of her boyfriend and her grandmother at the home where the three lived.
Tzara Jones Oxford County Jail photo
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Marchese had filed a motion to have a forensic psychologist at the Maine Department of Health and Human Services examine Tzara Jones, 53, to determine whether she is competent to stand trial on the two murder charges and whether she was suffering from an abnormal condition of mind at the time the alleged crimes were committed.
Jones’ attorney, Verne Paradie, agreed to the evaluations, which Justice Jennifer Archer approved Tuesday and ordered to be completed.
Marchese told the judge that she was seeking a Harnish hearing, where probable cause and bail will be argued by prosecutors and the defense.
Jones is being held without bail at Oxford County Jail in Paris from where she appeared Tuesday in nearby Oxford County Superior Court by videoconference.
Paradie said he would waive the five-day requirement for that hearing to take place, telling the judge he would notify the court of the date when he and his client were ready for that hearing to be held.
Jones did not enter a plea to the charges Tuesday because she has a right to have both charges first presented to a grand jury, which must hand up an indictment before the case can proceed to trial unless Jones were to waive that right.
Authorities discovered the bodies of Michael Willett, 69, and Aremean Mayo, 93, dead at Jones’ home at 7 Fuller Lane on Saturday, according to court records.
Willett was described as Jones’ “domestic partner” and Jones had been Mayo’s caretaker, according to those records.
Jones was charged with two counts of intentional or knowing murder, a crime punishable by 25 years to life in prison.
Jones had told authorities who were conducting welfare checks on the two victims that Willett was out of state hunting and that Mayo was at a hospital, police said.
Armed with a search warrant, state and county officers entered Jones’ home and found her in a bed near the kitchen, allegedly pretending to sleep and refusing to speak, according to court records.
Jones was taken to a hospital for a mental health evaluation “due to her erratic behavior,” court records said.
Willette was found in a bed in the home and Mayo was found partially in bed, her head and upper body off the bed.
Both victims had been stabbed in the chest and had been dead more than 24 hours, according to the Maine Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Authorities located a kitchen knife covered in red and brown stains in the area where Mayo’s body was found, according to court records.
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