photo by: Douglas County Sheriff's Office

Chad Marek

A Lawrence man accused of murdering his wife nearly three years ago refused to attend his competency hearing Friday in Douglas County District Court.

The defendant, Chad Marek, 29, was returned in January to the Douglas County Jail from Larned State Hospital, where he had been involuntarily committed pending mental health treatment.

Marek has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of 25-year-old Regan (Gibbs) Marek on May 16, 2022, in the 2500 block of West Sixth Street. Police said at the time that Marek told a dispatcher that God had told him to do it. It’s not clear how Gibbs was killed, as relevant documents in the case, including the autopsy report, have been sealed, but police said that her body had experienced a great deal of physical trauma, as the Journal-World has reported.

On Friday he was to appear before Judge Stacey Donovan for a determination of his competency to stand trial, but Marek refused to attend the hearing. The hearing was rescheduled for March 7; if Marek does not appear then, the court may have him appear via Zoom from his jail cell.

After Marek was arrested in 2022, he spent a year and a half in the Douglas County Jail waiting for a bed to open up at Larned. Eventually he was admitted to Larned, and in May of last year Donovan ordered involuntary commitment proceedings for him after reviewing a forensic evaluation report that said he was “unlikely to become competent in the foreseeable future.”

Generally speaking, competency is determined when a defendant understands the proceedings against him and can assist in his own defense.