Surber to Undergo Evaluation Before Preliminary

A strong police presence was evident as 37-year-old Donald Surber Junior arrived at Berkeley County magistrate Court Thursday.  Surber was there for a scheduled preliminary hearing on charges of kidnapping and first degree murder in the death of 35-year-old Katherine Nicole Sharp during a 26-hour standoff with police earlier this month. 

 

Berkeley County Prosecuting Attorney Pamela Games-Neely said that the court appointed the public defenders office as Surber’s council because there is no financial affidavit.  The public defender’s office does not feel Surber is competent to go through the preliminary hearing at this time and so waived his right to preliminary hearing within 20 days on Surber’s behalf.

 

Games-Neely says Surber will be evaluated at Eastern Regional Jail where he is being incarcerated.  The doctors will be chosen by the defense and then the preliminary hearing will be rescheduled.  Competency evaluations typically take between 30 and 60 days for completion to report.

 

Surber returned to Eastern Regional Jail from a correctional facility in Virginia yesterday.  He was in Virginia receiving treatment for a gunshot wound stemming from an attempted escape last Friday.  He was scheduled for a video arraignment on those charges; however court records show that Surber had not been arraigned on the escape charges as of his scheduled hearing yesterday.  Games-Neely said she expects that to be done sometime Thursday.