PORT ANGELES — Bruce Rowan should be kept in a locked hospital ward for the criminally insane, Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney Chris Shea argued in court Monday.
His arguments came in a hearing to determine whether the former doctor, who killed his wife in Port Angeles in 1998, is ready for “conditional release,” the first step to freedom.
An eight-person review board at Western State Hospital in Steilacoom says that Rowan is now well enough be moved from the locked ward to a less-restrictive unit — as soon as Aug. 12.
Attorney David Allen of Seattle said Rowan may be called to testify in the second half of the hearing today.
Superior Court Judge George L. Wood is expected to hear testimony starting at 9:30 a.m. in the Clallam County Courthouse.
Shea today will call the prosecution’s single witness, Seattle psychiatrist Mark McClune, who is expected to testify that Rowan might have been misdiagnosed by the Western State doctors.
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