Alexandria slayings suspect Charles Severance ordered hospitalized

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A judge has ordered a Virginia man charged with three murders in Alexandria to be hospitalized for a more complete mental evaluation.

The judge says Charles Severance's first evaluation did not clearly find him unfit to assist in his own defense.

Severance is a former Alexandria resident who ran fringe candidacies for political office and wrote about his hatred of the city's "enforcement class" in connection with a child custody case.

Severance's court-appointed lawyers requested the competency evaluation against his wishes. Severance said in court Thursday that the wanted his lawyers to argue that he's been denied a speedy trial.

Severance is charged in the fatal shootings of the wife of a former sheriff, a transportation planner and a music teacher in years running from 2003 to 2014.

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