HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — A judge found Tennis Maynard mentally incompetent to stand trial and instead sentenced the accused killer to spend the rest of his life in Sharpe Mental Hospital in Lewis County.
Maynard, 39, of Delbarton, was charged in the April 2013 shooting death of Mingo County Sheriff Eugene Crum. The sheriff was shot and killed while he sat in his cruiser at lunchtime in a Williamson parking lot.
“I think it’s the proper outcome as the case stands right now,” said Maynard’s attorney Rich Weston. “A man lost his life. We haven’t decided that on the merits yet, that’s obviously a sad thing. I don’t think justice is necessarily administered by a finding that your not competent but I think it’s the proper remedy of the case as its postured right now.”
In Thursday’s ruling, Cabell County Circuit Judge Paul Farrell added the caveat that if Maynard ever regained competency he would stand trial on the charges of murder, attempted murder and fleeing.
While Farrell saw the results of Maynard’s examinations by mental health experts at Sharpe Hospital and WVU Hospital, the findings were not shared in open court.
Crum’s family attended the hearing, where his son, Eugene Crum, said the family is trying to be patient.
“Sometimes it don’t move as fast as we would like it to, but our Lord does. That’s it. We just need your guys’ prayer and we’ll get through this,” Crum said.
The lack of a trial leaves questions unanswered about the shooting death, including motive. Maynard was young when he first met Crum. In the months after Crum’s shooting, political corruption convictions were secured involving several of the sheriff’s friends, including former Mingo County Circuit Judge Michael Thornsbury, former prosecutor Michael Sparks and former county commissioner Dave Baisden.
Maynard’s attorney said he’s not sure if there was any connection.
“I don’t know if what’s come out would have come out regardless or not,” Weston said. “It has definitely seemed like it was the catalyst for a lot of big things and big news that happened down there.”