Robert Tomes

A man accused of murder in the death of another person who was incarcerated with him in Allen County Detention Center has been found competent to stand trial.

Robert Lee Tomes, 36, of Scottsville, is alleged to have caused the death of Levi Parrish, 40, of Scottsvile, on Jan. 17, 2024, in the jail.

Tomes was indicted on a murder charge soon afterward and a competency hearing was held last month in Allen Circuit Court after he underwent a psychiatric evaluation.

Allen Circuit Judge Mark Thurmond issued a ruling April 25 in which he found that Tomes had the competency to appreciate the nature and consequences of the court proceedings against him and to participate in his own defense.

According to the ruling, the psychologist who evaluated Tomes testified at the hearing that, based on the evaluation, Tomes appeared to suffer from a mild intellectual disability possibly related to his lack of educational experience.

Tomes, however, was able to accurately describe the roles of various court participants, understood the nature of the criminal charges against him and understood the potential outcomes of a plea bargain.

Tomes also did not describe any unrealistic expectations for a defense strategy or endorse any psychotic perceptions about his attorney, according to the ruling.

No trial date has been set in the case and a pretrial conference is scheduled for May 20.

Parrish and Tomes were awaiting to take part in court proceedings over videoconferencing when the incident happened.

Tomes had been booked into the jail on Jan. 14, 2024, on charges of first-degree criminal trespassing and giving an officer false identifying information, and then picked up a charge of third-degree assault when he allegedly punched a deputy jailer while being escorted to his cell after booking.

Parrish was booked Jan. 16, 2024, on suspicion of driving under the influence.

The two men were part of a group of inmates brought to the jail’s commissary room on the morning of Jan. 17, 2024, to appear in court over Zoom.

According to an arrest citation, Parrish was pushed into the commissary room while seated in an office chair, and Tomes is seen in surveillance video footage standing up, walking over to Parrish and striking him multiple times in the face.

“While there is no audio to the video, it does not appear that either inmate spoke during the incident,” Kentucky State Police Detective Graham Rutherford wrote in Tomes’ arrest citation. “Tomes was observed smiling and looking around right before the assault occurred. Inmate Tomes refused to give a statement to KSP regarding this incident.”

The incident was described in the arrest citation as a “seemingly unprovoked” attack.

Parrish was taken to an area hospital for treatment of facial injuries, which were so extensive as to prevent him from giving a statement to law enforcement, according to court records.

Parrish died Jan. 26, 2024, at the hospital.

The indictment against Tomes described Parrish’s death as due to blunt force trauma sustained in an assault, “including an accumulation of blood that formed between the skull and his scalp, injury to his brain caused by external force and a nasal bone fracture.”