An attorney for the Vinton County father accused of keeping his 16 children in “horrific” conditions plans to ask the judge for a mental competency evaluation for his client.
Gary Siders Jr., his wife and parents have each been charged with 16 counts of child endangerment after authorities found the children living inside a home in the village of Hamden.
The motion filed Friday afternoon asks Vinton County Judge Laina Fetheroff Rogers permission to file a motion for a competency exam under seal.
A seal is different from thegagorders issued in this and the case against Christina Siders, as it doesn’t restrict communications. Instead it restricts who can see certain documents. If this request is granted, no one outside of the courts would be able to see the competency motion.
The attorney representing Siders Jr., Richard Lee Roberts Jr. filed the request for it to be under seal, arguing the documents would contain “highly sensitive mental-health information,” and that public disclosure would “invade Defendant’s privacy and compromise the confidentiality of the competency-related proceedings.”
Roberts requested the seal be limited to just the competency motion and related documents, not the “entire case record.”
This is the first motion for documents to be filed under seal in the Siders’ cases from the defense. The only other documents known to be under seal are two search warrants, at the request of law enforcement. The Columbus Dispatch is suing to have them released.
The attorney for Gary Siders Sr., the grandfather of the children, already filed a motion requesting a mental competency evaluation for him earlier this month which the judge granted. It’s not clear if the evaluation has been conducted.
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