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Letecia Stauch appears in El Paso County Court in 2020.
Gannon Stauch was last seen alive between 3:15 and 4 p.m. on Jan. 27, 2020, at his home in the Lorson Ranch neighborhood of Colorado Springs.
Letecia Stauch appears in El Paso County Court in 2020.
The defense team for Letecia Stauch, accused of killing her 11-year-old-stepson Gannon Stauch, plans to challenge the highly anticipated findings of a mental evaluation that have stalled court proceedings for months.
Under the eyes of Gannon’s mother and father in the gallery, Stauch, 39, appeared in person for the first time since June for a status conference on Thursday.
Judge Gregory Werner said he had received the examination report on Aug. 4, conducted by the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo, which found Stauch was sane when she allegedly committed the crimes.
Werner said he wanted to set a trial date now that the court had obtained the findings, but noted he had received a motion by the defense for a second sanity evaluation. Stauch’s defense attorney Josh Tolini said he wants Stauch to be examined another time at the CMHIP, but this time by an out-of-state psychiatrist hired by the defense.
After the hearing, Tolini would not disclose the findings of the evaluation but did confirm his client’s intent.
“I can say the document is restricted, but we are requesting a second sanity evaluation,” he said.
The parents and other family of Gannon Stauch, 11, have entered the courtroom before today’s hearing. District Attorney Michael Allen & staff + #Stauch Defense Attorney Josh Tolini are also present. @csgazette
Stauch has been awaiting trial for more than two years after allegedly killing Gannon in January 2020, but delays have occurred because of the need for her to have a sanity evaluation done due to her plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.
While public hopes were high for Thursday’s hearing to yield a trial date, the defense’s new request casts uncertainty about a timeline. Because Werner said he doesn’t believe he has authority to order CMHIP to hold Stauch while an outside professional conducts her next evaluation, her attorneys must work with the hospital to reach an agreement.
Allen raised concern that CMHIP might not have enough beds to accommodate Stauch on short notice.
A spokesperson for the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office said the next steps in the case are unknown; the hospital could clear a bed for Stauch, or Stauch could be sent to the "end of the line," stalling the case for months because of backlogs in mental evaluation requests.
Initially, Stauch pleaded not guilty to the charges filed against her, but in February she was granted permission by Werner to change her plea to not guilty by reason of insanity. When Werner ordered her subsequent mental health evaluation, he said he did so despite a significant backlog of nearly 400 mental evaluation requests.
In addition to a murder charge, Stauch faces charges of child abuse and tampering with evidence. If convicted of first-degree murder, she faces life in prison.
Gannon Stauch was last seen alive between 3:15 and 4 p.m. on Jan. 27, 2020, at his home in the Lorson Ranch neighborhood of Colorado Springs.
Stauch reported Gannon missing Jan. 27, 2020, saying he had not returned after walking to visit a friend. He was initially considered a runaway. Three days later, sheriff’s deputies reclassified him as missing and endangered.
Stauch was arrested weeks later on March 2 in Myrtle Beach, S.C., on suspicion of his murder.
Investigators believe Stauch killed Gannon sometime after 2 p.m. on the day she reported him missing. His body was discovered by the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office in Florida, on March 18, shortly after Stauch's arrest. Santa Rosa County is on the Florida Panhandle, east of Pensacola.
Investigators determined Gannon was shot and stabbed while in bed. A weapons expert determined bullets found at the scene matched the type of ammunition used in a gun found on the nightstand in Stauch's bedroom. The gun had Stauch's DNA on it, but also the DNA of at least two other people, an investigator testified.
Last year, prosecutors presented evidence linking Stauch to the murder, including blood linked to Gannon that was found on Stauch's shoe and tracking data showing she had traveled to an area near where Gannon's body was found.
Defense attorneys sought to create doubt that Stauch committed the murder by suggesting that someone else could have entered the home around the time Gannon died, and sought to tie home-security data to the unknown DNA on the gun investigators found.
But an FBI agent testified that Stauch was the only person investigators believe could have committed the murder.
During Thursday's hearing, Allen also expressed concern that CMHIP might hesitate to hold Stauch again because of a second case in which she is accused of attempting to escape from the El Paso County jail in 2020 by smashing a window with a broom handle, authorities said in alleging that she tried to enlist the help of fellow inmates.
According to past Gazette reporting , the scheme took shape between May 5 and May 18, 2020, with a jailhouse tipster alerting authorities that Stauch had been slipping notes to her and other inmates, an affidavit said. For help, Stauch allegedly offered a woman up to $75,000 in cash that Stauch claimed had been set aside for her by her grandfather to hire an attorney.
Several handwritten letters allegedly written by Stauch, including one telling her daughter to not be afraid if Stauch went missing from the jail, were obtained by investigators and supported the allegations.
Stauch already faced previous escape allegations. Gazette news partner KKTV reported that she tried to get away from El Paso County sheriff’s deputies in Kansas while being brought to Colorado after her arrest in South Carolina. The news station reported that Stauch slipped out of her handcuffs and punched a sheriff's deputy before she was brought back under control.
Because that incident occurred in Kansas, she couldn’t be prosecuted in Colorado, Allen previously told The Gazette.
Stauch’s next hearing has been set for Sept. 15, allowing the defense time to see if CMHIP will cooperate with their new request.
A motorcyclist killed in a crash Thursday has been identified.
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