Las Vegas sledgehammer suspect’s mental ability to be evaluated
A Las Vegas man accused of bludgeoning a woman to death with a sledgehammer should be evaluated for his mental ability to stand trial, a judge decided Friday.
Court records show that Clinton Taylor, 36, was ordered to go before a competency judge Sept. 27 to determine whether he understands the murder charge he faces.
Authorities said 72-year-old Diana Jeanne Langlume, a woman Taylor did not know, was killed Aug. 29.
Langlume, who had been doing her laundry, called 911 at about 5 a.m. from the Twin Lakes laundromat near Rancho and Washington drives to report a man outside with a sledgehammer, according to police. She stayed on the phone with 911 until she screamed and the call dropped.
When officers arrived, after pinging her location using cellphone towers, they found her dead just outside the laundromat.
Taylor is being held without bail at the Clark County Detention Center.
Relatives, describing him as sporadic and violent, have said he is mentally ill and had spent years in and out of mental health treatment.
Taylor suffers from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, his cousin told the Las Vegas Review-Journal earlier this week.
Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter.