A Beardstown man found unfit for trial in July will spend the next two years of his life in a Springfield state institution before a rehearing of his case.
Andrew J. Wright, 43, was remanded to the custody of the Illinois Department of Human Services’ Packard Mental Health Facility after a hearing in Cass County Circuit Court yesterday afternoon. Wright was facing multiple charges after a March 2, 2024, shooting in the 400 block of East Fifth Street in Beardstown after a person was injured in the shooting.
Wright’s defense attorney Robert W. Boucher had motioned for relief from detention for his client on October 23. Boucher had previously moved to have the case dismissed after Wright failed to meet the State of Illinois’s criteria for admission into IDHS’s custody on an involuntary basis at a September 8 hearing. The court had previously determined that Wright had no substantial chance of achieving fitness within a year. Wright had refused to cooperate with fitness examinations multiple times during his incarceration at the Schuyler County Jail awaiting trial.
Visiting Judge Kevin Tippey ordered that Wright be remanded to IDHS custody for a maximum of 2 years and at which time Wright would then be re-evaluated for fitness to stand trial. Wright was facing Class X felony charges of attempted murder and aggravated battery with a firearm along with three over felonies in relation to the case.