SENECA – A competency hearing scheduled in Nemaha District Court for Thursday will determine the legal course from this point forward for a man accused of gunning down a popular local priest in April of this year.
The competency determination was requested by Gary Lee Hermesch’s legal counsel after postponements of the defendant’s preliminary hearings set in June and August. Hermesch’s angry outburst during a separate Zoom hearing October 14 from the Jackson County Jail in Holton, in which he demanded the court fire his defense attorney Jason Belveal, prefaced Belveal’s request for the competency evaluation. During the hearing, Hermesch threatened to take off his headphones and slam them against a wall if the court did not relieve Belveal as his counsel. Belveal’s transmission was muted for the remainder of the hearing.
Nemaha County District Judge John Weingart ordered a competency evaluation for Hermesch November 7.
Hermesch, 57 of Tulsa, is accused in the April 3 murder of Father Arul Carasala near the rectory of the Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Seneca.
A probable cause affidavit in the case said a witness near the church saw Hermesch shoot Carasala three times while the priest was in the yard of the church rectory. Hermesch then apparently drove to the Nemaha County Sheriff’s office and turned himself in to sheriff’s officers who were in the process of responding to the shooting call.
Belveal asked the court in later April to declare the relevancy of any photos introduced as evidence prior to introducing them in court, and to be sensitive to the possible bias they might present to a jury.
“Gruesome photographs depicting the deceased, and the wounds of the deceased, can threatena defendant’s right to a fair trial like almost no other evidence,” Belveal’s motion read. “This type of photograph can both shock and repulse jurors, and encourage them to base their verdict on passion rather than reason.”
The probable cause affidavit noted Carasala was shot at least once in the head. He died after being taken to the Nemaha County Hospital.
Locals said Hermesch was raised in Seneca and graduated high school there in 1977. Reports as yet unconfirmed said Hermesch attended church services at Saints Peter and Paul the weekend prior to the shooting. He was said to have gone back to Oklahoma but returned the week prior to Thursday’s shooting.
Dane Hicks is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism and the United States Marine Corps Officer Candidate School at Quantico, VA. He is the author of novels "The Skinning Tree" and "A Whisper For Help." As publisher of the Anderson County Review in Garnett, KS., he is a recipient of the Kansas Press Association's Boyd Community Service Award as well as more than 60 awards for excellence in news, editorial and photography.
