A young man charged in a series of hammer attacks in Northwest D.C. last spring has been found competent to stand trial, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Michael Davis was 19 when authorities said he killed 66-year-old tourist Gary Dederichs with a hammer in the Petworth neighborhood in April 2012.
Dederichs, of Denver, was found dead April 24, 2012, in an alley in the 800 block of Emerson Street NW, dead of severe head trauma.
They say Davis also injured at least three others, sneaking up behind them and hitting them with a hammer or other small tool. The attacks rattled the neighborhood, with police advising residents not to walk alone after dark.
Davis was arrested two days after Dederichs was found dead following an attack that injured a woman. "I just turned around, I would say, like a second, and he just struck me with something," the victim told News4 at the time. "All I said was please don't hurt me."
Davis, the younger brother of NFL players Vernon and Vontae Davis, had previously been ordered held at St. Elizabeth's Hospital. In December, doctors said they believed he was competent, but the hearing was delayed until this spring.
Tuesday's ruling reverses a previous decision, when Davis was declared incompetent a year ago.
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