Crabtree’s alleged victim, a 25-year-old man, suffered more than 30 stabs in his face, neck and chest and a collapsed lung, officials said. The victim has recovered and was in present in Middletown Municipal Court on Dec. 19 during Crabtree’s arraignment hearing.
A memo filed Feb. 4 by Crabtree’s attorney, Arica L. Underwood, said: “Counsel has reason to believe that Mr. Crabtree may have a mental disease or defect that made him unable to understand the wrongfulness of his acts at the time of his offense, unable to fully comprehend the proceedings in this court at this time and/or unable to assist counsel in the preparation and defense of his case.”
A competency evaluation hearing is scheduled for March 5.
Crabtree faces four felony charges:
- Attempted murder, a first-degree felony
- Felonious assault (serious physical harm), a second-degree felony
- Felonious assault (deadly weapon), a second-degree felony
- Grand theft of a motor vehicle, a fourth-degree felony
He remains in the Butler County Jail on a $775,000 bond.
Middletown Police Detective Connor Kirby testified previously that Crabtree said he was acting “because of God” when he allegedly stabbed the man.
“(Crabtree) gave different reasons as to why he wanted to kill (the) 25-year-old victim,” Kirby said. “One of the reasons he said, it was because of God.”
What happened?
At 3:50 a.m. Dec. 4, Middletown police and fire responded to a stabbing in the 4400 block of Bonita Drive.
During a police interview, Crabtree said the victim came to his house, knocked on the door and was let in. The victim, according to Crabtree, was sitting on the couch and not threatening Crabtree.
Crabtree then told the officer “(the victim) was on the couch, I grabbed his head and I stabbed him in the throat.”
He told the officer his intention was to kill the victim, according to court records.
The alleged weapon used in the assault is a silver, fixed-blade style knife, according to Kirby.
Crabtree fled on foot, police said. While a police K9 was trying to track him, the man got into a locked Middletown police cruiser through the window and stole the vehicle, according to police.
Crabtree then drove the stolen cruiser from the area of South Breiel Boulevard and Oxford State Road in Middletown to Rusconi Drive in Independence, Kentucky, where he was stopped by Independence Police Department, according to court records.
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