PORT ANGELES — Alleged murderer Shay Clinton Darrow waived his right to a speedy arraignment Thursday to allow his attorney to prepare an insanity defense.
Darrow, 29, is charged with first-degree murder with domestic violence for the shooting death of his father, Clint Darrow, in January 2017.
Defense attorney John Hayden of Clallam Public Defender said Thursday his client intends to plead not guilty by reason of insanity.
“There’s obviously going to be a mental health defense, an insanity defense,” Hayden said at the hearing.
Clallam County Superior Court Judge ordered Hayden to produce a report to compel Western State Hospital to determine whether Darrow and another defendant were insane at the time of their alleged murders.
City police said Darrow fired 29 rounds at his father with a semi-automatic .45-caliber pistol in his father’s Port Angeles home Jan. 12, 2017.
Clint Darrow, who owned Van Goes Gourmet Pizza & Mexican in Port Angeles, was 53.
Shay Darrow had stopped taking his medication for schizoaffective disorder prior to the shooting, police said.
After spending most of 2017 in competency restoration at Western State, a state psychologist determined that Darrow’s condition was in partial remission and that he had the capacity to understand the charge against him and ability to assist in his own defense.
Darrow was found competent to stand trial Jan. 12.
His case has been mired in procedural delays in recent months.
Darrow has appeared in recent court hearings with Benjamin George Bonner, who is charged in the murder of a family friend in May 2017.
Bonner has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
Rohrer’s order for the defense to produce a report for Western State applied to both cases.
“There’s really no connection between these cases except the same issue is before the court,” Rohrer told Darrow and Bonner on Thursday.
A review hearing in both cases is set for April 19.
Darrow is being held in the Clallam County jail on $500,000 bail.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsula dailynews.com.
