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HOLLIDAYSBURG — A Blair County judge has authorized a psychiatric evaluation for an Altoona woman charged in 2021 with attempted murder after she was accused of stabbing a 70-year-old woman in the neck.

Chief Judge Timothy M. Sullivan on Friday authorized the evaluation of Shannon B. Erb, 47, requested by the district attorney’s office in response to a psychiatric evaluation that finds Erb incompetent to stand trial and is unlikely to be reinstated.

First Assistant Public Defender Julia Burke, who filed a motion in September to dismiss Erb’s charges, offered no opposition to the district attorney’s request to have Erb evaluated by Dr. John O’Brien II, a Philadelphia psychiatrist.

Burke said Erb remains hospitalized at Torrance State Hospital in Westmoreland County on a civil commitment. She has been in that facility since May 2022, when she was transferred there from the Blair County Jail. At Torrance, Erb was being treated for conditions with psychotic and delusional symptoms, according to court documents.

“The passage of a significant amount of time, her lack of improvement, and the professional medical opinion of (Torrance psychiatrist) Dr. Matthew Lang, make it unlikely that she will be restored to competency,” Burke reported in the motion seeking the charges. to be dismissed.

First Assistant District Attorney Nichole Smith obtained Sullivan’s permission to move forward with O’Brien evaluating Erb for competency.

Pennsylvania law allows a court to stay proceedings for a legally incompetent person for the shorter of 10 years or the statutory maximum of the crime charged.

“In this case, (Erb) is charged with a lead count of attempted murder with a statutory maximum of 40 years,” Smith wrote in her request to secure O’Brien’s services. “Accordingly, this court may stay the proceedings against the defendant for up to 10 years to restore her legal capacity.”

Smith proposed that O’Brien’s review include his opinion on Erb’s legal incompetence and whether there is a reasonable likelihood that Erb will regain competency within the next seven years, reflecting her 2021 arrest.

Burke, in her petition seeking dismissal of the charges, pointed to Torrance’s repeated requests and subsequent approvals for Erb’s time and treatment at the facility to be extended. The defense attorney also referred to the facility’s use of maximum resources for Erb’s treatment and has seen no improvement.

Altoona police arrested Erb, then 44, on Sept. 5, 2021, after responding to a call at IDA Tower, 1010 12th St., at 4:47 a.m. for what was reported to be be a stabbing.

Police said when they arrived, the victim was on the balcony with her hand on her neck, covered in blood, yelling, “He’s in the living room.”

After breaking a glass door to enter the building, police went to a second-floor apartment where Erb was waiting.

Officers reported the victim was bleeding profusely from a laceration to the neck and a stab wound to the upper chest. Police reported they administered treatment until emergency crews arrived and took the woman to UPMC Altoona.

Criminal charges indicate that Erb, at the scene and meeting with detectives at police headquarters, admitted to the stabbing that he said stemmed from an argument in which the victim told him to shut up. Before the fight, Erb told police he was on the balcony yelling at someone who wasn’t there.

Officers found a 15-inch kitchen knife believed to have been used in the stabbing.

In addition to attempted murder, police charged Erb with felony counts of aggravated assault/attempt to cause or cause serious bodily injury with extreme indifference and aggravated assault/attempt to cause or cause serious bodily injury with a weapon manslaughter and one count of criminal recklessness. endangering another person.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.