SCOTTSVILLE — An Allen County man accused of killing a another man and burying him on his property has been seen by a psychologist after his attorney raised questions about the suspect’s competency to stand trial.

Tommy Mulhall, 44, of Scottsville, appeared in Allen Circuit Court on Tuesday with his court-appointed attorney, Pat Roemer, for a pretrial conference in his case.

Mulhall is charged with murder, tampering with physical evidence and abuse of a corpse in connection with the death of Stuart Hearell, 58, of Scottsville.

Roemer was asked by Allen Circuit Judge Janet Crocker about a competency issue involving Mulhall and disclosed that psychologist Eric Drogin, who evaluates criminal defendants for the Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Center, has recently seen Mulhall.

“Dr. Drogin has met with Mulhall at jail and he’s performed an evaluation on his competency to stand trial,” Roemer said.

Crocker ordered Mulhall to return to court on Nov. 22 for another pretrial conference.

Mulhall, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, underwent an earlier psychiatric evaluation by another physician.

A closed competency hearing held in June led to Crocker finding that Mulhall was competent to assist in his own defense and understood the nature of the charges against him.

Mulhall walked into the Scottville Police Department headquarters on Dec. 24 and confessed to killing Hearell, who lived at Cornerstone Manor, a personal care facility in Scottsville.

According to court records, Mulhall told police he met up with Hearell in Scottsville around Thanksgiving, they traveled to Tennessee to buy beer and returned to Hearell’s single-wide trailer on Cartertown Spur Road.

At the trailer, the two drank several beers when Mulhall “snapped,” according to an affidavit filed by SPD Detective John Rose.

“Mulhall … hit Hearell in the head with part of a toilet lid,” Rose stated. “Mulhall advised he then stabbed him with a kitchen knife and buried Hearell on the east side of the mobile home with a shovel.”

Authorities found Hearell’s body where Mulhall claimed to have buried it, and confirmed Hearell’s identity through fingerprints, court records show.

Police accuse Mulhall, who formerly lived at Cornerstone Manor, of killing Hearell on or around Nov. 26.

— Follow courts reporter Justin Story on Twitter @jstorydailynews or visit bgdailynews.com