Almost two years after he pleaded guilty to murdering a 6-year-old boy, Scottie Willet returned to court Wednesday.
Willet sat silent next to his lawyer during the court proceedings, dressed in an orange jumpsuit.
The 30-year-old former Fulton resident received life without eligibility of parole in June 2016 for first-degree murder, plus a 20-year sentence for armed criminal action. But now, his public defender, Valerie Leftwich, is arguing Willet should not have been allowed to enter that plea deal.
The hearing is expected to conclude today.
"The issues in this case are centered around the competency of Scottie Willet to enter a guilty plea," she said during a post-conviction relief hearing Wednesday.
She added Willet may have been coerced into taking that plea.
"That becomes coercive if he pleads guilty to avoid the death penalty when he (wouldn't be eligible due to his disability)," Leftwich said.
At the time of Willet's trial, a different public defender, Justin Carver, hired a psychologist to determine his comptency, Leftwich told the court. Willet was deemed competent at the time. However, witnesses brought by Leftwich stated Willet has a mild or moderate intellectual disability, as well as other potential diagnoses.
Expert opinions
The first witness brought Wednesday was Dr. Robert Fucetola, a neuropsychologist with the Washington University School of Medicine. Fucetola testified he evaluated Willet on March 31, 2017 - a process that involved reviewing his academic, Social Security, medical, mental health and correctional facility records; interviewing Willet and administering a battery of of tests.
Multiple assessments of Willet's IQ and cognitive abilities during his childhood pointed to impairments, Fucetola said. Additionally, he has ADHD and a genetic condition that could contribute to a lower IQ.
During his 2017 assessment, Willet failed at tasks like remembering a list of 12 words for 20 minutes, Fucetola claimed. He measured Willet's IQ at 70. Fucetola concluded Willet has a mild intellectual disability.
"The scores that Mr. Willet earned were scores you'd expect from a child ages 8 through 11," he said.
Fucetola added, in his opinion, Willet did not have the capacity to plead guilty.
During cross-examination, Assistant Attorney General Kevin Zoellner questioned why Fucetola did not look at records from the day of Willet's arrest or ask Willet whether he understood his role in court proceedings.
"You sought to evaluate his life without evaluating what he may have understood at that time," Zoellner said.
Fucetola said his methods were sound.
"I relied on a scientifically based, empirically based, dispassionate methodology," he said.
Leftwich also brought as a witness Dr. Steven Peterson, a psychiatrist with extensive past experience working with convicted persons. Peterson said he reviewed the records mentioned above and visited Willet twice to perform assessments, including several tests.
"He had an immature, almost playful side that can turn irritable and irrascible if he's knocked off his thinking track," Peterson said.
He said in his opinion following his evaluation, Willet has below-average IQ, impaired social judgment, difficulty retaining information and other learning disabilities.
"He has a wide variety of mental health disabilities," Peterson said.
Also during his assessment, Peterson said he tried to ask Willet about the day of the killing, but received no answers.
"He said that he was in a black-out about that," Peterson added.
According to the probable cause statement, Willet initially admitted guilt in the case when being interviewed Aug. 28, 2014, by Callaway County Sheriff's officials Dennis Crane (former sheriff) and Clay Chism (current sheriff). At that time, Willet said he deliberately shot Dayne Hathman multiple times with a .40-caliber handgun at a residence he shared with the boy and his mother on Primrose Lane in Fulton.
As previously reported, the boy's mother had left him with Willet while she went to work overnight. When she arrived home, she couldn't find Dayne, and his grandmother - who was also a neighbor - reported the boy missing. Willet fled, and when investigators arrived, they found the boy's body concealed in Willet's closet.
Willet was later located and arrested in Sedalia.
According to Peterson, Willet had impaired judgment and was at risk of being manipulated; he also needed assistance making life decisions. Willet has the intellectual capacity of a 7-to-10- year-olds in most areas, Peterson added.
"Who was he reliant on when he stole the gun he used to kill a child?" Zoellner asked.
Peterson acknowledged Willet made that decision himself.
The third and fourth witnesses, John Moran and Cindy Boyes, are employees of the Missouri Department of Mental Health's central office. In 2007, they were involved in the intake process that determined Willet was eligible for the MDMH's services. Neither directly remembered his case, but Leftwich provided Willet's paperwork.
Willet was deemed to have limitations in four assessed areas out of six, such as learning and expressive language, Moran testified.
Potential outcomes
As the hearing concludes, Judge Jeff Harris will have to determine whether to overrule or sustain the post-conviction relief motion.
"If the judge overrules the PCR motion, then the guilty plea and sentence stand, and Willet can appeal that decision," prosecuting attorney Christopher Wilson said in an April 2017 interview. "If the judge sustains the motion, then the judge can set aside the guilty plea. That means the criminal case is back to the point it was before the guilty plea - no more and no less."