But the hearing, at which psychiatric experts were expected to testify on the mental competency of defendant Jose Pazos, was postponed when his defense attorney asked to withdraw.
The development Monday was just the latest delay in a case that has already stretched for more than half a decade.
Pazos, 51, is facing charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping and other offenses related to Kathleen Smith’s death.
Smith, a social worker at Howard Center, was found bound by rope, face down and surrounded by a large amount of dried blood in the kitchen of her Burlington home in October 2010, according to a police affidavit.
Days later police found Pazos in a storage shed at the Middlebury Snow Bowl, where they said he was hiding. A source told police that Pazos had a grudge against Smith because she had taken a position against him in a child custody dispute.
In early 2014, Pazos was deemed incompetent to stand trial. He has been held in mental health facilities since that time and is regularly assessed to determine if his mental status has changed. He is currently held at the Vermont Psychiatric Care Hospital in Berlin, according to court papers.
Last year, an evaluation found Pazos competent to stand trial, though he was not cooperative with the evaluation, according to court papers.
Pazos’ mental competency was to be the subject of a hearing Monday morning that would determine whether the criminal case would move forward. Pazos, a small figure with silver-flecked black hair and beard, clad in navy and gray flannel, shuffled into the courtroom in shackles.
However, before the proceedings began, defense attorney Brian Marsicovetere asked to withdraw because of references to him in a report by the court-appointed forensic psychiatrist.
Pazos sat silently as Marsicovetere stood and told the judge he felt an obligation to step down because of statements in Dr. David Rosmarin’s report.
“I feel like, to me, my hands are tied,” he told the court.
The state opposed Marsicovetere’s motion, arguing the issue could be resolved in cross-examination and encouraging the hearing to go on.
Judge Dennis Pearson, however, found that the ability of Marsicovetere to vigorously defend Pazos in court “in substantial question.” Were the hearing to continue as planned, there would be “a lingering cloud” as to whether Pazos received adequate legal counsel, he said.
The development further postpones the case until Pazos is appointed new legal representation. Several defense attorneys have previously withdrawn from Pazos’ case.
Several of Smith’s siblings and cousins looked on from the gallery.
“It’s just another delay in a case that should have gone to trial a long time ago,” Smith’s older sister Joanne Kortendick said after the hearing.
Smith was one of eight siblings, a family Kortendick described as very close. Several relatives traveled from Montreal for the hearing. Kortendick came from Colorado.
“This was the first time that we felt that there was a possibility of this moving forward to trial,” Kortendick said. “So you can imagine how terribly disappointed we are with this new development, one that we were not aware of until this morning.”
The hearing was also the first time Kortendick had seen Pazos in person, she said.
Kortendick and her family members believe Pazos has been deliberately manipulating the system to hinder the proceedings. The process, she said, “is interminably slow.”
“I really feel like there needs to be some changes in the law with respect to the information that families will get, particularly when the person who committed the crime is moved into the mental health system,” Kortendick said.
Marsicovetere wouldn’t comment to reporters as he left the courtroom.
Prosecutor Justin Jiron said he sympathizes with the frustrations of Smith’s family.
“Absolutely, it’s a frustrating system especially for families, for victims. They can’t get the information that they would expect to get,” Jiron said.
“On the other hand, the system’s in place for a reason,” he said, adding there are reasons to protect people’s right to privacy.