A gag order issued on July 14 by Judge Laina Fetheroff Rogers has already restricted public discussion of the Vinton County case involving four adults charged with 16 counts of child endangerment each after 16 children were found living in a home in Hamden Ohio. The order prohibits law enforcement and attorneys from making public statements out of concern that such comments could create a reasonable likelihood of prejudicial pretrial publicity and affect the ability to seat an impartial jury.

That restriction on information has now been joined by another request for secrecy. Attorney Lee Roberts Jr representing 36 year old Gary Siders II filed a motion seeking a psychiatric competency evaluation for his client and asked that the supporting documents be filed under seal because they contain highly sensitive mental health information. The filings state that the defendant’s competency to stand trial has been raised and that the documents concern his present mental condition and the request for examination. The sequence of events leading to these court actions began on June 30 when authorities entered the roughly 1850 square foot residence and discovered the 16 children ages 1 to 18. Officials alleged that many of the children had been isolated in a 12 by 12 foot room and that a number of them could not speak. Seven children were transported to hospitals and two were flown to trauma centers in Columbus.

The interior of the home according to later reports and pH๏τographs contained mountains of trash and emitted a strong smell of cat urine. Notable items included a framed tiger painting and a stained chest freezer. The four adults arrested that day were Gary Siders II his wife Elizabeth Siders 33 his father Gary Siders 73 and his mother Christina Siders 66. Each faces the full set of 16 child endangerment charges. The elder Gary Siders was hospitalized after the arrest because of a serious medical condition and the court is still awaiting a ruling on his competency.

With a gag order already limiting public statements and a new motion seeking to seal sensitive mental health materials the amount of information available about the defendants’ current conditions and the precise details of the case remains тιԍнтly controlled. The combination of the restrictive orders means that the public and the media are operating with only the basic outline of events while the court considers whether Gary Siders II is competent to stand trial and how the sealed records will be handled. The case continues to raise fundamental questions about the conditions under which the 16 children were living the medical consequences of those conditions and the mental fitness of at least one of the adults charged with endangering them. How the court rules on the competency evaluation request and the sealing of the related documents will determine how much additional information if any becomes available as the proceedings advance.

Source: https://www.wowktv.com/news/gary-siders-ii-asks-for-mental-competency-evaluation-in-vinton-county-case/