Jeremy Best placed on conservatorship, court hearings canceled until court determines mental competency
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VICTOR – A man charged with the murder of his wife and her unborn child will no longer appear in court Monday. He’s also been placed on a conservatorship.
Best, 48, is charged with two felony counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of his wife, Kali Randall, and her unborn child. Police say Best also kidnapped his and Kali’s baby, Zeke Best. Ten-month-old Zeke also died, and his cause of death has not been released pending the results of an autopsy.
More charges are likely once those results have been returned.
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According to a release from Teton County Prosecutor Bailey Smith, Best’s preliminary hearing has been vacated “by order of the court, and proceedings in this case are suspended until a capacity determination is made pursuant to Idaho Code 18-210.”
Smith tells EastIdahonews.com that the mental health competency evaluation ordered for Best by the court has not yet been completed, so the hearing had to be vacated.
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Idaho Code 18-210 states, “All persons are capable of committing crimes, except those belonging to the following classes:
- Persons who committed the act or made the omission charged, under an ignorance or mistake of fact which disproves any criminal intent.
- Persons who committed the act charged without being conscious thereof.
- Persons who committed the act or made the omission charged, through misfortune or by accident, when it appears that there was not evil design, intention or culpable negligence.
- Persons (unless the crime be punishable with death) who committed the act or made the omission charged, under threats or menaces sufficient to show that they had reasonable cause to and did believe their lives would be endangered if they refused.
Newly filed court documents also state that Best’s examination has not yet been completed, citing “extraordinary circumstances” pursuant to Rule 5.1 of the Idaho Criminal Rules. Rule 5.1 states that every defendant charged in a complaint with any felony is entitled to a preliminary hearing, unless indicted by a grand jury.
A conservatorship
On Wednesday, documents were filed showing that a woman named Patricia Best petitioned to have Jeremy placed on a conservatorship due to him being “incapacitated.”
According to Best’s attorney, Jim Archibald, the conservatorship is to make sure someone is watching over Best’s property while he is incarcerated.
“Someone from Jeremy or Kali’s family needs to watch over and protect the property while the case is pending,” says Archibald. “All of the family is out of state. Neighbors and local friends are watching over it now.”