CROWN POINT | Rasson Roby stubbornly refused to acknowledge the murder charge he faces in his mother's 2007 bludgeoning death.

The Gary man shoved away a picture of Arlena Roby's lifeless body and clammed up against further questions during his mental competency hearing Thursday.

Lake County Criminal Court judges have spent more than $75,000 since 2005 evaluating the mental competency of defendants, a Times review of psychological evaluation spending shows.

Officials argue the front-end spending reduces post-trial issues.

Indiana law allows for convicted offenders to claim ineffectiveness of counsel on their petitions for post-conviction relief if their attorney didn't request a competency hearing. If the petition is granted, defendants could be granted new trials.

Witnesses' memories fade, people die and cases get harder to try as time passes, Lake County Criminal Court Judge Thomas Stefaniak Jr. said.

"It makes more sense to spend money on the front end to be on the safe side," he said.

Chief Public Defender Dave Schneider said mental competency evaluations can help defense attorneys piece together more comprehensive pictures of their clients. The requests are made on a case-by-case basis, he said.

"Our attorneys are under the obligation to provide the best defense we can," Schneider said. "Better to do it now than two or three years down the road, saying, 'Well gee, this should've been done.'"

Dr. R. Bhawani Prasad said he uses a series of questions to evaluate a defendant's ability to stand trial, including understanding of the charges, awareness of name, date and place, and the ability to help an attorney during the trial.

Stefaniak acknowledged more defendants are found competent than incompetent. But, defendants in several high-profile cases have been found unfit to stand trial or mentally ill.

Margaret Church was sentenced in June 2005 to 55 years in prison for killing her 81-year-old mother, Margaret Jansky, of Munster, by stabbing her with a pitchfork and beheading her. A jury found Church guilty but mentally ill in May 2005.

Upon sentencing, Church told the judge, "I don't wish to appeal. I feel more free now than I ever have. I don't feel like I'll ever have another nervous episode. I finally figured out who I am."

Church was diagnosed in her late teens as having paranoid schizophrenia. In October 1985, Church gouged out one eye and severely damaged the other while in the psychiatric ward of a local hospital.

Roby, who is facing charges in his mother's 2007 slaying, was sent to Logansport State Hospital for treatment for mental health issues after his arrest. A hospital doctor evaluated Roby, gave him medications and shipped him back to the Lake County Jail.

"That report doesn't click with what we saw today," Lake County Criminal Court Judge Diane Ross Boswell said during Roby's hearing, noting his erratic behavior.

Two court-ordered doctors who evaluated Roby also disputed the claim that he was fit to stand trial, expressing doubts about his sanity. His case still is pending and set for a status hearing later this year.