The Elm Springs woman accused of stabbing her husband because of his snoring last year has been deemed mentally fit by a court-ordered psychologist.
The attempted murder suspect told the psychologist she heard a voice and had amnesic episodes over the last two or three years, according to her mental evaluation.
The recently-released mental evaluation by Arkansas State Hospital doctor Mark M. Peacock states Dawn Weiser admitted she would hear auditory hallucinations of a man’s voice, usually following arguments with her husband.
“She described the voice as being whisper-like in volume and as arising, typically, following arguments with her husband,” the documents state.
She also suffered from what she calls “black holes,” short periods of amnesia in which she does not remember what happened, the mental evaluation states.
However, Weiser said she has not heard any voices or experienced any “black holes” this year, the documents state.
“Weiser attributed her recent improvement as due to ongoing psychotropic treatment and not being around her husband,” according to the mental evaluation.
Peacock said the suspect reacted rationally during questions about her case and the charges against her.
“[I]t is my opinion that sufficient evidence supports Ms. Weiser being in possession of a rational and factual understanding of criminal proceedings and in possession of the capacity to effectively assist in her own defense,” Peacock wrote.
Washington County Circuit Court Judge William Storey ordered a mental evaluation for Weiser in March. Weiser is out of jail on bond while awaiting her attempted murder trial, scheduled for June 23, according to court documents. She was 44 years old at the time of her arrest last year.
Her trial has been delayed twice, once in December and another time in March, court records show. Weiser was arrested Aug. 29, 2013, and pleaded not guilty in the case on Oct. 2, 2013, to a felony charge of attempted murder.
A preliminary report from the prosecutor states Weiser stabbed her husband after an argument about his snoring. The stabbing sent Doug Weiser, 43, to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Police said he suffered a punctured spleen and lacerated liver from three stab wounds.
Doug Weiser told police he awoke to his wife stabbing him with a knife. He was able to wrestle the knife from her before the couple’s two teenage sons came to his aid, according to a preliminary report from the Washington County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
The victim told police he and his wife had recently argued about his snoring, and she went to another room with one of their to sleep while he slept alone in the couple’s bed, the report states.
Dawn Weiser told police she awoke to a loud noise in the house and found her husband with stab wounds. She told investigators she believed there must have been an intruder inside the home, according to the preliminary report.
She later admitted to stabbing her husband with a butcher knife and hiding the evidence, police said.
She was released from the Washington County Detention Center two days after her arrest on a $25,000 bond.
Doug Weiser filed for divorce from his wife on Sept. 5, 2013, in Washington County Circuit Court, records show.
Earlier this year, the judge handling the case temporarily suspended the attempted murder case against Dawn Weiser, saying she may be mentally unfit to stand trial.
