Trevor George, the suspect arrested in connection with the shooting death of Ryan Ray Rogina in 2020 and found incompetent to proceed to trial in February, may have to wait to undergo mental health treatment at the state hospital until the late summer or early fall, a Weld County judge said Wednesday morning.
George, 33, of Fort Collins, is accused of shooting and killing 30-year-old Rogina and choking and injuring a 6-year-old girl whom Rogina was babysitting in Windsor during the early morning hours of Oct. 30, 2020.
George appeared virtually in the 19th Judicial District Court before Judge Marcelo Kopcow Wednesday morning for a status conference on his case.
Kopcow said that an evaluation found that George was restorable to competency within the “reasonably foreseeable future.” However, Kopcow said, given the backlog at the state mental health hospital, George has not gone through any treatment yet. He added that the last notice the court was provided earlier this month was an estimate that George could be admitted and start receiving restoration services between August and October of this year.
“This court has no control over those resources,” Kopcow said, later adding, ” It seems at this point we are in limbo until Mr. George starts receiving those restoration services.”
Michele Newell, George’s attorney, requested that Kopcow file an order that George be transferred to the state hospital within 10 days, and Deputy District Attorney Patrick Roche did not object to that sentiment.
“Literally we have nothing,” Roche said. “Nothing has occurred in this amount of time.”
Kopcow said that he does not have the authority to tell the state hospital what to do, but said he would be glad to remind the hospital of the importance and severity of this case.
“I have no intention of holding them in contempt of court because of their backlog and their inability to get people started with restoration services,” he said.
Kopcow scheduled George to return at 8:15 a.m. Aug. 31 for a review hearing on where they are at in the case.
According to the arrest affidavit for the incident, four women, one of whom was the 6-year-old’s mother, found George in the Windsor home where the shooting and assault had just occurred. George allegedly threatened them all with a handgun before fleeing the scene, according to the affidavit. Law enforcement officers later arrested George in Fort Collins after tailing him driving a stolen car, according to the Weld County Sheriff’s Office.
George faces 19 charges in connection with the shooting, including first-degree murder after deliberation, first-degree felony murder, criminal attempt to commit first-degree murder and first-degree assault, among others.
He pleaded not guilty in September of 2021 and was scheduled to face a two-week jury trial in February prior to his ruling of incompetence.
