Man accused of murder still waiting for mental hospital bed

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

A Des Allemands man accused of killing his father 3 1/2 years ago has spent the last three years in the Lafourche Parish jail, waiting for room in the state hospital for the criminally insane.

State District Judge Bruce Simpson committed Bryan Vanacor Jr. on April 14, 2004.

But the 24-year-old is among 161 people on the waiting list for the 234-bed Feliciana Forensic Facility in Jackson n and the average stay there is more than a year, said Robert Johannessen, spokesman for Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.

He said another 300 patients are housed in other parts of the state, many of them at Southeast Hospital in Mandeville. Both are for people either declared incompetent to stand trial because they cannot help their attorneys or found not guilty because of insanity.

Vanacor is charged with second-degree murder of 46-year-old Bryan Vanacor Sr., who was shot several times with a .45-caliber pistol in November 2003 at a campground he owned.

Deputies said at the time that the two had had an adversarial relationship for some time. A .45-cabliber handgun was found under the sofa in the younger Vanacor’s camper, and he admitted shooting his father during questioning, sheriff’s spokesman Larry Weidel said at the time.

His competency is reviewed every six months, and only one exam has found him competent. His next court date is scheduled for Oct. 17.

Patients stay at Feliciana or Southeast until their competency is restored or a court-ordered stay of trial ends, Johannessen said. The average stay is 411 days at Feliciana, 398 at Southeast, he said.

Doctors have tried at least four anti-psychotic medicines on Vanacor over the past 3 1/2 years.