FAYETTEVILLE -- An animal cruelty trial ended abruptly before a jury could be seated Wednesday after the defendant's attorney questioned her fitness to proceed.
Washington County Circuit Judge Mark Lindsay stopped the proceedings against Vickie West, 64, and ordered West committed for a mental evaluation. Lindsay reset the case to Oct. 16.
West, a psychologist, was scheduled to be tried on eight counts of animal cruelty. Seven are felonies and one is a misdemeanor.
Fayetteville police arrested West after removing 25 dogs and a cat from her home on Jan. 10, 2017, according to court documents.
The animals were suffering from neglect and living in squalor, according to an arrest affidavit. Police also found three decayed dog carcasses.
West told police she adopted several dogs with a high risk of euthanasia from a Texas animal shelter and planned to transfer them to rescue groups.
A shelter representative became concerned when West returned a dog in her care for one month that was emaciated and in poor health. West adopted at least 10 dogs from one shelter since 2015, according to the affidavit.
West voluntarily surrendered all of the animals. They were either adopted or returned to shelters in Texas, said Justine Lentz, city Animal Services superintendent.
Earlier Wednesday, Lindsay denied defense motions to allow two psychologists who had treated West, or knew her, to testify at her trial.
Cara Hartfield, a psychologist who performed an earlier court-ordered exam on West, submitted a report in February that said West suffered from recurring major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety but West had the capacity to appreciate the criminality of her conduct and the capacity to conform her conduct to the law.
West told Hartfield when she began taking dogs in, she was experiencing "compassion fatigue" following the deaths of her father and brother. West told Hartfield she had trouble finding homes for the animals and was eventually overwhelmed by the number of dogs in her care.
NW News on 06/07/2018