Five Months After Order, Double-Murder Defendant Still Not Transferred to Mental Health Hospital

A Baltimore County judge last September committed a double-murder defendant to a state mental health hospital for a comprehensive psychiatric evaluation.

At a court hearing Thursday, attorneys told the circuit court judge that Kevin Ahn, 32, had still not been transferred to the mental health hospital from jail, five months after the order.

Ahn is charged with killing his mother’s roommate and the roommate’s ex-husband, and is suspected in his mother’s death.

That delay in transfer violates Maryland law, which requires the Maryland Department of Health (MDH) to admit incompetent and dangerous defendants within 10 days of a judge's order.

 Ahn is not the longest-waiting detainee in the county. Three other inmates at the detention center have been waiting even longer, according to James Dills Baltimore County District Public Defender.

Dills has raised concerns for years about the slow pace of admissions by the MDH and has advocated for monetary sanctions and other measures to encourage compliance with the law.

Whether fines are a lawful compliance tool is now before the Supreme Court of Maryland, which heard arguments in January. A decision is expected this summer.

Dills said local jails aren't equipped to handle seriously mentally ill detainees like Ahn.

“The thing I am most afraid of is somebody at the detention center, on these lists, that harms themselves, that harms someone else, while they are waiting,” Dills said.

Assistant Attorney General Marissa Capone argued at a hearing last year that the 10-day statutory deadline is “untenable” given the MDH's limited resources.

“We’re doing everything we can,” Capone said. “We’re trying to be creative and use the resources we have. We need more money, or we need that statute to be changed.”

Ahn sat quietly through Thursday’s hearing, shackled and handcuffed, his hair unkempt.

“Mr. Ahn, do you understand what we are talking about?” Judge Judith Ensor asked.

“Um, somewhat,” Ahn replied.

Ensor said the court is frustrated that she signed the commitment order in September and, five months later, “it doesn’t feel like anything’s happened.”

“I think where we’re ending up is, sadly, there are quite a number of people who are waiting,” Ensor said. “So it sounds like we’ve just got to wait our turn.”

Ahn has a status conference scheduled for March 6. Deputy State’s Attorney Lisa Dever said because Ahn has not yet been transferred to Clifton T. Perkins Hospital, little progress is expected at that hearing. The state will likely request another extension.

Statewide, about 200 people in local jails are waiting for beds in state psychiatric hospitals, according to Michael Fuller of the State’s Attorney’s Office. Thirty-two of them currently are being held in the Baltimore County detention center.

The backlog is exacerbated by the fact that serious cases like Ahn’s can only be transferred to Perkins Hospital, Maryland’s only maximum-security forensic psychiatric hospital.

“The Perkins beds are incredibly limited,” Dills said. “You’re talking about high-intensity, high-needs beds, and those open a lot less frequently.”

Ahn is officially charged in the deaths of his mother’s roommate, Sun Lim, 83, and Lim’s ex-husband, In Kim, 69. Both were found March 24 with belts around their necks inside an apartment on Oliver Heights Road in Owings Mills, police said.

Ahn is also suspected but not charged in the death of his mother, Hyun Ahn, 61, who was found dead in the back of her SUV, her body covered with clothing. Police said she had ligature marks on her neck.

Charging documents state:

“At an unknown place and time, Kevin Ahn strangled and killed his mother, Hyun Ahn, with her own necklace and placed her in the rear of her vehicle, where he used clothes to conceal her body. He then drove the vehicle to the residence of his sister, Alice Ahn, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where he attempted to confess to the crime via a handwritten note. Her death is currently being investigated by the Lancaster County Regional Police Department.”

A preliminary mental health evaluation conducted in August found Ahn not competent to stand trial. A doctor also determined Ahn posed a danger to himself or others, Fuller told the court in September.

Judge Ensor formally committed Ahn to a state mental health hospital at that time. No bed has become available for Ahn in the five months since the order was issued. Placements are made on a basis multiple factors, including of the severity of need and, to a lesser extent, the length of wait time.

The case first began to unfold in Penn Township, Pennsylvania, on March 24, when police discovered Hyun Ahn’s body in the back of her SUV. According to charging documents, Ahn had arrived at his sister’s home behaving erratically.

“Ahn was outside of her residence acting unusual and speaking gibberish,” police wrote.

Ahn’s sister called 911 after she saw a human leg in the back floorboard of the Toyota, police said. A handwritten note found inside the vehicle read:

“Alice, Mom is in car. I’m sorry. Please give her a funeral, my brain is fried. Mom lied. She gave me fake money from the N.A. So did my employers. I lost my mind, forgive me.”

After discovering Hyun Ahn’s body, Baltimore County police went to her Owings Mills apartment to check on her roommate. After forcing entry, officers found two bodies in the kitchen. Investigators also discovered a large safe that appeared to have been tampered with, according to charging documents.

See previous reporting related to the shortage of mental health beds in Maryland for incompetent and dangerous defendants here.