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Mental Patient Charged In Slaying Found Competent

ELLICOTT CITY, Md. (AP) -- A man charged with killing his roommate in a maximum security wing of a Maryland state mental hospital has been found competent to stand trial.

The Baltimore Sun reports Vitali Davydov's attorney did not object Thursday to the finding by a psychiatrist presented by Howard County prosecutors that the 24-year-old is competent.

Davydov, who is charged with first- and second-degree murder in the beating death of David Rico-Noyola at Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center in October, waived his right to a speedy trial because his attorney needs more time. Attorney Barry Helfand says he'll argue at trial, now set for July 16, that Davydov was being sexually assaulted and acted in self-defense.

Davydov was committed to Perkins in 2006 after being found not criminally responsible in a Bethesda psychiatrist's death.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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