DAKOTA CITY, Neb. (AP) - A judge has granted a prosecutors’ request to force a homicide defendant to take anti-psychotic medication.
The judge ruled Friday the drugs will give psychiatrists treating Andres Surber a chance to definitively determine his mental competency
Surber has pleaded not guilty to murder and related charges for the slaying of 41-year-old Kraig Kubik at Kubik’s home in Emerson. Another man charged, Brayan Galvan-Hernandez, has been sentenced to 50 to 60 years in prison.
A judge ruled in April that Surber was not mentally competent to stand trial.
A doctor said in a Feb. 1 memo that Surber has stopped taking his medication for long periods of time and said he suspects Surber is “malingering for the purpose of avoiding punishment.”
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