Indiana County President Judge William Martin has issued a ruling pushing back the start of the trial of Todd Walters. He also rescheduled a pretrial conference that was slated for next week.
The 41-year-old Walters is charged with beating to death his mother, 72-year-old Ruth Shirey, at her home on Diamond Avenue in Indiana in February of 2015. He was arrested later that day in Altoona while driving his mother’s car.
Walters is being held on involuntary committal to Torrance State Hospital because of mental health issues. He has a longtime history of mental illness which has prevented his case from going to trial. Judge Martin ruled in June of 2018 that Walters was competent to stand trial, but he had another mental health evaluation and a second criminal case filed against him for an unprovoked attack against a fellow inmate at Torrance, prompting more treatment. Martin ruled in October that Walters was again fit to stand trial.
On Wednesday, the judge rescheduled a pretrial conference from next Tuesday to February 27th. He also reset the trial date from February 18th to March 23rd.
