This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A mentally ill man accused of killing a 57-year-old Bountiful woman more than nine years ago has been found not guilty by reason of insanity by a judge, who this week committed the man to the Utah State Hospital.
Phillip Joseph Simmons, 45, was charged in 2nd District Court with first-degree felony murder for allegedly stabbing Susanne Redd Fry more than 20 times at her home on Jan. 19, 2008.
Despite prior treatment at the hospital — including being forced to take psychotropic medications — Judge David Connors concluded Wednesdaythat Simmons remains legally incompetent to stand trial because of mental illness.
Connors also found that Simmons presents a "substantial danger to himself and others," according to court documents.
Simmons, who suffered a brain injury at a teenager, suffers from "auditory hallucinations along with paranoid delusions," court documents state.
Connors found that due to Simmons' brain injury and psychosis, he was incapable of knowingly and intentionally killing Fry.
Since the charges were filed, Simmons was three times found incompetent to stand trial.
In February 2016, another judge ordered forced medication for Simmons, after voluntary methods of trying to medicate him had failed.
Prosecutors have said Fry was allowing Simmons to live with her because he was homeless.
Simmons told police the two had argued over a plate of food he had fixed, according to charging documents.
Simmons said that "in his mind he heard the word 'murder,' and a knife came out and then he blacked out," the charges state. "When he came to, there was blood all over and the victim was lying on the floor."