- Taylor Justin Schultz, who was charged with fatally stabbing a grocery store employee with a golf club, has been found incompetent to stand trial.
- The victim, Robert Skafte, a 66-year-old office worker and renowned ballet dancer, was found with a golf club stuck in his torso at Oak Grove Grocery in Minneapolis.
- Schultz, 44, had been evicted a week before the murder and had a history of assaulting other residents of the apartment.
A man accused of fatally stabbing a Minneapolis grocery store employee with a golf club has been found mentally incompetent to stand trial for murder.
Magistrate Judge Daniel Mercurio issued a ruling Tuesday on an evaluation of Taylor Justin Schultz's mental competency, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
Schultz, 44, is charged with second-degree murder in the Dec. 8 killing of 66-year-old Robert Skafte. Officers responded and found the victim behind the counter “with a golf club lodged in his torso,” police said at the time. Mr Skafte died at the hospital.
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Skafte worked as a clerk at this store for nearly 20 years and was also highly praised as a ballet dancer. Mr. Schultz lived in an apartment across the street. Court records show Schultz had been evicted a week before her murder and that she had previously assaulted other residents of the apartment.
Robert Skafte was seen performing at a production of 3X Tennessee on September 8, 2003 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Police say Skafte, 66, was beaten with a golf club and impaled inside an Oak Grove grocery store on Dec. 8, 2023. (Bruce Bisping/Star Tribune via Getty Images)
Mercurio's decision was based on the opinion of a psychological examiner. Mr. Schultz has a history of mental illness.
“There is no reason to disagree with the examiner's opinion,” Emmett Donnelly, Schultz's public defender, said in a statement.
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A message was left Wednesday with the Hennepin County Attorney's Office.
Mr. Schultz remains jailed on $1 million bail. He is scheduled for a court hearing in July. His case may be referred to civil proceedings.
Schultz has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and self-reported post-traumatic stress disorder, according to court records. He had received treatment and services through the Department of Veterans Affairs in the past.
The newspaper reported, citing court documents, that in 2021, doctors determined Schultz was at “unacceptably high risk of further deterioration of his mental illness unless he is provided with strong support.” He was reportedly placed on civil detention for six months in 2021.
