UPDATED Wednesday, April 3, 2013 --- 5:56 p.m.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- A judge has ruled a Madison woman accused of letting her sister die is competent to stand trial after all.
Prosecutors have accused Veronica King of leaving her 72-year-old sister, Mary Coleman, on the floor to die after Coleman fell in King's house in May 2009. King, now 73, faces a number of charges, including first-degree reckless homicide.
Dane County Circuit Judge Julie Genovese in January ruled King wasn't competent to stand trial and suspended her case. Genovese on Wednesday ruled King was competent after reviewing a doctor's progress report on her.
Her attorneys plan to contest the report's finding at a July evidentiary hearing.
Prosecutors charged King's son, Steven King, in Coleman's death, too, but Genovese ruled in October he wasn't competent to stand trial.
Copyright 2013. The Associated Press.
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UPDATED Tuesday, January 1, 2013 ---- 10:01 a.m.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- A Madison woman accused of leaving her elderly sister to die is due back in court this week for a competency hearing.
Prosecutors have charged 72-year-old Veronica King with leaving her 72-year-old sister, Mary Coleman, on the floor to die after Coleman fell in King's house in May 2009. They've also accused her of withdrawing about $6,400 from the sisters' shared bank account that summer. King faces a number of charges, including first-degree reckless homicide and fraud.
Dane County Circuit Judge Julie Genovese has scheduled a competency hearing for King on Friday.
Prosecutors charged King's son, Steven King, in Coleman's death as well after investigators said he told them he watched TV while Coleman lay on the floor. Genovese ruled in October he wasn't competent to stand trial.
Copyright 2013. The Associated Press.
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UPDATED Friday, October 12, 2012 --- 3:30 p.m.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- A judge says a former Madison man accused along with his mother of leaving his elderly aunt on the floor to die isn't competent to stand trial.
Dane County Circuit Judge Julie Genovese on Friday suspended the case against 46-year-old Steven King, citing psychologists' reports that he suffers from autism and can't assist his attorney. She ordered the case held in abeyance until King becomes competent.
Prosecutors charged both King and his mother, Veronica King, a little more than a year ago with first-degree reckless homicide. Investigators accused them of leaving Mary Coleman, Steven King's 70-year-aunt and Veronica's sister, to die after she fell in their house in early 2009 and collecting her life insurance benefits.
Genovese has scheduled a competency hearing for Veronica King next month.
Copyright 2012. The Associated Press.
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UPDATED Thursday, February 9, 2012 ---- 7:25 a.m.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- A Madison woman and her adult son are expected to appear in Dane County Circuit Court Thursday on accusations they failed to help a relative who lay dying in their home.
A criminal complaint says 70-year-old Mary Coleman likely suffered a stroke, then fell out of bed and remained on the floor for two days before she died in August 2009. An attorney for Veronica King, Coleman's sister, argues King had no legal obligation to help Coleman because Coleman, in fact, was King's legal guardian. Attorney Marcus Berghahn argues in court papers that while King may have had a moral imperative to act, she was not legally bound to do so.
The State Journal (http://bit.ly/xAVztE ) says King and her 45-year-old son, Steven King, are charged with first-degree reckless homicide and hiding a corpse.
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Information from: Wisconsin State Journal, http://www.madison.com/wsj
Copyright 2012. The Associated Press.
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UPDATED Sunday, October 9, 2011 --- 5:41 p.m.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- A Wisconsin woman and her son are facing charges more than two years after investigators say they left a relative who cared for them most of their lives to die on the floor of the family's home.
Veronica King and son Steven are due in court Monday in Madison on charges of reckless homicide in the death of Veronica King's sister, Mary Coleman.
The 71-year-old King and her 45-year-old son also are charged with financial fraud for collecting Coleman's pension and social security after her death.
Police discovered Coleman's mummified remains in the garage of the house the Kings shared in August 2009. Officials say the Kings told investigators Coleman fell three months earlier and that they let her die over two days because they didn't want to be investigated.
Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
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Posted Wednesday, September 7, 2011 --- 9:55 a.m.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- A Madison woman and her son are accused of abandoning their 70-year-old relative after she fell to the floor, and authorities say the pair went out for pizza rather than administer aid. The relative died two days later.
Prosecutors filed charges Tuesday against the victim's 71-year-old sister, Veronica King of Madison, and 45-year-old nephew, Steven King of Evansville. The charges include first-degree reckless homicide and hiding a corpse.
The criminal complaint says Mary Coleman fell at Veronica King's home in May 2009. Steven King told investigators his aunt was talking, but he "told her quite frankly to shut up."
A Wisconsin State Journal report (http://bit.ly/oyMoR3 ) says after Coleman died, the Kings allegedly stashed her body in the garage.
Online court records didn't list defense attorneys for either defendant Wednesday.
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Information from: Wisconsin State Journal, http://www.madison.com/wsj
Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
