David Andrew O’Neill’s lawyer says the 41-year-old Stanardsville man accused of stalking a Daily Progress employee says his client needs treatment not punishment.
Charlottesville-based lawyer Chris Graham has filed a motion for a mental health evaluation for O’Neill, who he says has autism.
In 2020, Virginia enacted a law that allows someone with autism or intellectual disabilities to receive a deferred disposition in a criminal case. Graham has suggested in court that O’Neill would qualify, an outcome that could dismiss his charges under condition of getting treatment.
Arrested March 11, O’Neill was initially charged with stalking and assault after the Daily Progress employee, who the newspaper will not be naming due to the sensitive nature of the matter, said he persisted in unwanted contact: peering through her windows, singing loudly outside her residence, sitting uninvited on her front porch, attempting to hug her children, riding a bicycle in circles around her and attempting to kiss her in church.
Released from jail in April on a bail that allowed him to live with a family in Madison, O’Neill allegedly violated his release terms. On June 26, he was arrested again and charged with bail violation.
O’Neill, who appeared at one hearing wearing a floor-length white robe, has been taken to Western State Hospital, a public facility in Staunton that provides both acute and long-term mental health treatment.
O’Neill was due in Greene County General District Court Wednesday. He is subject to a protective order that forbids contact with the woman.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com
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