Attorneys for De’Lawnte Hardy, the man accused of killing his own grandmother and Cleveland police officer Jamieson Ritter in 2024, are appealing a recent decision by a Cuyahoga County judge ordering a mental health center to turn over all of its medical records on the 27-year-old Cleveland man.
Last week, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Ashley Kilbane ordered Central Ohio Behavioral Healthcare to provide copies of all of Hardy’s medical records to both the prosecution and the defense. This includes psychological reports, medications (including dosages and frequency of medications prescribed), progress notes by psychologists and psychiatrists and psychological testing results
The order came after a motion by Cuyahoga County assistant prosecutor Kevin Filiatraut for the COBH to produce Hardy’s medical records for review “in anticipation that a second opinion and/or hearing on competency may proceed.”
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Kilbane ordered that the documents be produced by Sept. 1. Once that order is fulfilled, experts retained by the prosecution and defense will be able to conduct independent psychological evaluations of Hardy
On Tuesday, Hardy’s defense team from the Cuyahoga County Public Defender’s Office appealed Kilbane’s ruling with the Eighth District Court of Appeals. When asked for more details, the defense team provided the below statement to 3News:
“Delawnte Hardy has been deemed incompetent by multiple doctors. According to the state-run hospital, he remains incompetent and is undergoing restoration. Rather than following the process as outlined by Ohio law, the prosecution is asking for Delawnte Hardy to be treated differently. This process has always been entrusted to the Ohio Department of Behavioral Health. The law doesn’t allow the prosecution’s hired doctors to have access to an incompetent defendant and interject themselves at this stage in the proceeding. This appeal seeks to ensure that the law is applied consistently for all defendants, including Delawnte Hardy.”
PREVIOUS COURT UPDATES
After Hardy was ruled incompetent to stand trial, he has been undergoing treatment in an effort to restore competency
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Back on Feb. 24, it was ordered that Central Ohio Behavioral Health prepare a report as to whether there is “a substantial probability that the defendant will become competent to stand trial within the next two years if provided with the appropriate course of treatment.”
That order was issued after Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed Senate Bill 295 into law, extending the competency restoration period for defendants charged with serious crimes from one year to three
Hardy’s defense later filed an objection on March 23 to the retroactive application of the three-year restoration term, arguing “any extension of time for his restoration period implicates liberty and due process considerations. …”
One year earlier in March of 2025, Kilbane ruled the forced involuntary administration of drugs “is medically appropriate for this defendant’s condition” after a doctor testified Hardy refused to take the medications because of side effects
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“The medication is likely to render the defendant competent to stand trial, and it is substantially unlikely to have side effects that will interfere significantly with the defendant’s ability to assist counsel on conducting a trial defense and that less-intrusive means are unlikely to achieve the same or substantially similar results,”
CASE DETAILS
The accusations against Hardy began on June 28, 2024, when he was staying with his grandmother, Beatrice Porter, at her residence near Reindeer Avenue and Claremont Boulevard in Garfield Heights
“While inside her residence, he stole her firearm and shot her in the back of the head,” according to the prosecutor’s office. “Afterward, he fled the scene on his grandfather’s bicycle. A family member arrived at the residence the next morning around 1 a.m., found the victim, and called the police.”
Porter was taken to the hospital and a felonious assault warrant was issued for Hardy’s arrest
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Days later on July 4, it was around 1 a.m. when Cleveland police responded to a call about Hardy being at a residence near East 80th Street and Wade Park Avenue
When officers arrived at the scene, they placed a spotlight on the residence
“During the next couple minutes, officer Ritter instructed Hardy six times over a loudspeaker to exit the residence out the front door with his hands up,” according to the prosecutor’s office. “Hardy then began to flee out the back door of the residence on his grandfather’s bicycle with two swords and the firearm he stole from his grandmother.”
Several officers then attempted to arrest him
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“During the struggle, Hardy fired four shots at multiple officers,” according to the prosecutor’s office. “The first shot struck officer Ritter, the second shot nearly missed another officer and the third shot was in the direction of two other officers.”
Hardy was arrested at the scene
Officer Ritter was taken to the hospital where he died a short time later. Hardy’s grandmother died that same day around noon
In a previously released statement, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael C. O’Malley said Hardy “caused unimaginable damage and grief to two families, our law enforcement community and our entire region” in the course of a week
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Hardy was initially indicted on the following charges back on July 10, 2024:
Three counts of aggravated murder
Two counts of attempted aggravated murder
Four counts of felonious assault
Two counts of aggravated robbery
Two counts of receiving stolen property
One count of having weapons while under disability
One count of theft
One count of resisting arrest
One count of misdemeanor theft
