A man who allegedly planted a pipe bomb in Colonial Williamsburg has been denied hospitalization for the second time in a month.
Doctors have determined that 30-year-old Stephen Powers, a former Colonial Williamsburg employee, is competent to stand trial and was sane when he allegedly planted the explosive device near Berret’s Seafood on Oct. 19.
In a brief hearing Thursday morning in the Williamsburg-James City County General District Court, prosecutor Cathy Black said sanity at the time of the offense evaluation, which was ordered last month, had been completed.
Despite the evaluation result, Powers’ defense attorney, John Konstantinou, asked Judge Colleen Killilea to consider hospitalizing the 30-year-old.
“There would be some benefit to have someone watching him 24/7,” Konstantinou said.
Killilea declined to hospitalize Powers, stating she didn’t “have the basis to hospitalize him.”
Powers did not physically appear for the hearing.
Thursday’s hearing was the second time Konstantinou has requested Powers be sent to a psychiatric facility.
The first time Konstantinou suggested hospitalization was Feb. 8, after court-appointed psychologist Dr. Kevin McWilliams testified to Powers’s competency.
McWilliams said he had seen Powers four times since November and believes there is “significant malingering,” or feigning, of psychiatric illness and memory loss.
McWilliams testified that Powers had shown memory loss, but only for the time period around when the pipe bomb was planted in Colonial Williamsburg.
Powers also told McWilliams “the demons are eating part of my memory.”
At the Feb. 8 hearing, Black said Powers was in possession of several documents while he was at the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail. The papers described a potential “hit” on his wife, types of bombs used in the Oct. 19 incident near Colonial Williamsburg, the location of additional bomb-making materials at his house in Gloucester, and instructions on how to build bombs.
Powers is scheduled for a preliminary hearing, where a judge will determine if there is probable cause to send the case to a higher court, at 2 p.m. May 17 in the Williamsburg-James City County General District Court.
Black said there will be several federal witnesses at the preliminary hearing.
Correction: A previous version of this article said an insanity at the time of the offense report determined Powers was sane when he allegedly planted the bomb. The report has been completed, but his sanity at the time of the offense will be determined at trial.
