Township standoff defendant not competent to stand trial

By RICHARD JENKINS

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IRONWOOD TOWNSHIP — The Ironwood Township man involved in a May standoff with police has been deemed not competent to stand trial and remanded to a psychiatric facility.

Gogebic County Circuit Judge Michael Pope ordered Leonard John Hellier, 48, committed to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services’ Center for Forensic Psychiatry in Ypsilanti Wednesday “in an effort to restore competency,” Gogebic County Prosecutor Nick Jacobs said.

“This effectively puts a time-out on any further prosecution of this case until/unless he r...