PORT ANGELES — Former emergency room doctor Bruce Rowan has agreed to the psychiatric evaluation sought by the family of his slain wife, prior to his release from a mental hospital.
Rowan, 41, will be evaluated by Seattle psychiatrist Dr. Mark McClung.
A written report will be submitted to Clallam County Superior Court by April 18 on McClung’s findings and recommendations, said Rowan’s attorney, David Allen of Seattle, in a letter to Superior Court Judge George Wood this week.
The evaluation will continue to delay Rowan’s release from Western State Hospital into his own Tacoma-area apartment, which is where his attorney said Rowan plans to go once Wood approves the next step of his conditional release.
Rowan, who bludgeoned his wife, Deborah, 33, to death with a baseball bat and an ax at their home on March 1, 1998, has been confined to the hospital since a Superior Court jury found him innocent of murder by reason of insanity.
Third-party evaluation
It was Deborah’s parents and siblings who last month wrote a letter to Judge Wood requesting an independent, third-party psychiatric evaluation of Rowan to determine whether he can be released into the community without “substantial danger” to others or “substantial likelihood” of committing criminal acts.
