Officials at the Northwest Ohio Psychiatric Hospital in Toledo have determined that Mary Spurlock, 47, has shown sufficient improvement in her mental health and should be returned to the Lima community. Spurlock was found not guilty by reason of insanity for stabbing an Allen County deputy with his own knife in 2019.
J Swygart | The Lima News
LIMA — A Lima woman found not guilty by reason of insanity for stabbing an Allen County Sheriff’s Office deputy with his own knife in 2019 had been deemed eligible to return to the community under a set of closely-monitored circumstances.
Officials at the Northwest Ohio Psychiatric Hospital in Toledo, in a status report issued in September, voiced the opinion that Mary Spurlock, 47, has shown sufficient improvement in her mental health and is now eligible for a conditional release.
Ohio law requires that persons convicted on NGRI pleas be held in the least restrictive environment that their condition permits.
Allen County Common Pleas Court Judge Jeffrey Reed said Spurlock will be granted a conditional release from the Toledo facility immediately and will reside at the Irma Rose House, a group home facility on South Main Street in Lima.
“While she does remain mentally ill, it has been determined that Mrs. Spurlock’s mental insight has significantly improved and that at this time she does not represent a risk of harm to herself or others,” Reed said.
Spurlock was ordered to undergo counseling with Coleman Health Services, to remain compliant with her medication requirements and be subject to random drug testing. She will be eligible for overnight furloughs from the group home.
Spurlock was indicted by a grand jury in November 2019 for the stabbing two months earlier of Allen County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Devan Thomas as he was attempting to take her against her will to a local hospital for a court-ordered mental health evaluation.
Thomas during a 2021 competency hearing testified that Spurlock resisted his efforts to take her to the hospital, and the pair ended up scuffling on the floor of her residence. He said Spurlock removed his knife from his utility belt and stabbed him in the finger. Thomas said the incident resulted in a “small laceration with a medium amount of bleeding” on his part.
He said the woman “said she had a higher security clearance than (former) President Trump.”
Spurlock will be under the court’s jurisdiction for up to 11 years, equal to the maximum prison time she could have received for the first-degree felony charge.
