Sep. 26—Both attorneys in the case of a Science Hill man accused of killing two family members and injuring a third are requesting that he receive a mental health evaluation before further action in his case.
Austin R. Prather, 21, is the suspect in a shooting that took place in November 2023 that claimed the lives of his father, Ardyth “Trae” Prather III, and his grandfather, Ardyth “Ray” Prather, Jr.
In addition, Austin Prather’s grandmother, Joann Prather, was severely injured, with Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office reports stating she was found with stab and gunshot wounds.
Austin Prather has been charged with two counts of Murder, one count of Attempted Murder, three counts of first-degree Robbery and one count of Tampering with Physical Evidence.
Austin Prather appeared in Pulaski County Circuit Court on Thursday via Zoom from the Pulaski County Jail.
During his hearing, Commonwealth’s attorney David Dalton asked Judge Teresa Whitaker to schedule a trial date, as he thought that would aid with speeding up the process of having Austin Prather seen by the Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Center (KCPC).
KCPC has, in the past, been slow to get through the backlog of patients awaiting evaluation.
According to media reports from 2022 and 2023, KCPC been under scrutiny from the judicial branch for having at least a year-long wait for evaluation, with one official testifying in 2022 that there were more than 300 defendants on the waiting list. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the wait time was said to have been around eight weeks.
Dalton asked Whitaker to set a trial date of January or February, but Whitaker argued against that, not only because she did not see that setting a trial date would speed up the process but also stated that she did not have an open date through March.
Both Dalton and Austin Prather’s attorney, Caitlin Dunnington, agreed that the judge should sign paperwork stating that Prather receive his evaluation during an inpatient hospital stay, rather than receive telehealth services.
Dunnington told the court that recently passed Kentucky laws allow the facility to give out patient treatment and evaluations to begin with, and only bring patients into the facility if they feel it is needed.
That law, known as House Bill 385 or “Seth’s Law,” was signed in April of this year and went into effect July 15.
It was named in honor of Seth Stevens, an attorney for the Kentucky Judicial Commission on Mental Health who passed away due to suicide in 2023.
The law was enacted in the hopes of reducing the waiting period to receive evaluations “to three to five weeks,” according to the Kentucky Court of Justice website.
“By allowing outpatient evaluations in jails, communities, or other settings, the law aims to provide quicker justice for victims and reduce the waitlist for inpatient services,” the website states.
“Effective July 15, 2024, Seth’s Law mandates outpatient evaluations as the initial step for competency and criminal responsibility assessments. Evaluations will occur outside of inpatient settings at KCPC or state psychiatric hospitals and will only proceed to inpatient facilities if recommended by the evaluator. This applies to all charges and cases across state hospital facilities, including both felonies and misdemeanors,” the website states.
While Whitaker did not set a trial date, she scheduled another pretrial hearing for the case for November 4.
Carla Slavey can be reached at cslavey@somerset-kentucky.com
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