Insanity plea in Brenda Canosa murder case?

  ORANGE — Was murder suspect Brenda Canosa, 50, insane when she allegedly shot her estranged husband, Bob Canosa, five times outside of his Unionville home Dec. 11?

  The defense and prosecution are now attempting to evaluate Mrs. Canosa’s state of mind on that day by pursuing separate mental health assessments. As a result, the trial, originally scheduled to begin Oct. 4, will likely be delayed until February or later.

  At a hearing Thursday in Orange County Circuit Court, Judge Daniel Bouton approved Commonwealth Attorney Diana Wheeler’s motion to appoint a psychiatrist or clinical psychologist qualified in forensics evaluations to assess Brenda Canosa’s sanity at the time of the predawn shooting.

  Bob Canosa, then working as an investigator for the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, died nine days later of his wounds. He was 55.

  Mrs. Canosa, of Madison County, has been held in Central Virginia Regional Jail in Orange since the day of the shooting more than nine months ago and faces charges of first-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony.

  She was employed as a special education teacher at Madison Primary School at the time of her husband’s fatal shooting.

  Wheeler’s request for a mental health evaluation in the case followed a notice filed Sept. 1 by defense attorneys Christopher Leibig, of Alexandria, and Dana Slater, of Charlottesville, stating their “intent to present mental health evidence as to the sanity (of their client) at the time of the alleged offense.” The prosecution, by state law, is entitled obtain its own mental health evidence since the defense initiated the same, Bouton said.

  In a motion filed this week by Wheeler, she noted her office had not yet received a copy of Canosa’s expert’s evaluation, “but understands that the report will express an opinion that the defendant was insane at the time of the offense.”

  Bouton Thursday approved Wheeler’s request to have Mrs. Canosa evaluated at Central State Hospital in Petersburg. Once initiated, that report will take 30 days. No details were provided Thursday by Mrs. Canosa’s attorneys regarding their expert’s mental evaluation – only that the report would be finished mid-October.

  The judge advised Mrs. Canosa Thursday the law requires her to cooperate with the prosecution’s mental health expert. Failure to cooperate could result in her expert’s evidence not being permitted in the case, he said.

  Brenda Canosa, her brown hair in a ponytail and dressed in a gray prison uniform, indicated to the judge that she would cooperate, uttering a quiet, “Yes, sir.”

    Because of the uncertainty of what the sanity assessments could show, Bouton was hesitant to set a new trial date in the murder case, saying the reports’ results could impact how much time is needed for the trial and other factors. He approved Wheeler’s request for a continuance of the trial, scheduling Dec. 16 at 9:30 a.m. for a status review in the matter.

  “We will take it up first,” said Bouton of the pending review after learning Leibig had an afternoon hearing for another client that same day. “The other matters will to have to wait. Obviously, this is an important case.”

  The judge said it would be “a very difficult endeavor” to reschedule Brenda Canosa’s trial due to its expected length of at least two weeks. Bouton noted January would not work because he is set to hear the ongoing dispute over the proposed building of a Wal-Mart in the Wilderness area of Orange County.

  “I am not in a position to adjust that case,” he said.

  Bouton said he would have a firmer idea of the timeframe for a new trial date in the Canosa case at the Dec. 16 hearing. In the meantime, he cancelled next Friday’s previously scheduled hearing with the consent of the prosecution and defense.