Judge Bars Records from 2003 Murder Suspect’s Commitment

KETCHUM, Idaho (AP) — A judge has ruled that a jury will not hear about a 12-year commitment to a psychiatric hospital in the trial of a man accused of murdering a Camas County man in 2003.

Harley Robert Park was determined to be "dangerously mentally ill" in 2006 and deemed unfit for trial. Doctors with the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare found he was able fit to stand trial in April of this year.

The Idaho Mountain Express reports that prosecutor asked the court Monday to bar information about Park's commitment, saying evaluations during his stay have no bearing on Park's sanity at the time of the crime.

Police say that Park in 2003 killed 61-year-old Lynn Stevenson at a nine-hole golf course Stevenson owned near Soldier Mountain north of Fairfield.