The suspect in an assault on a sheriff’s deputy in Brinnon back in February is to return to Western State Hospital for 90 days in an attempt to restore his competency to stand trial.

Glen Jones appeared in Jefferson County Superior Court by video from the county jail Aug. 4, as an anticipated report from Western was presented, stating that he was not currently competent to stand trial.

Jones was arraigned in Superior Court Feb. 3 and initially held in Jefferson County Jail on two counts of first-degree assault with a deadly weapon, before being transferred to Western for a competency evaluation April 28.

Although Jones’ defense attorney, Richard Davies, expressed no objections to Jones spending another 90 days at Western, he did request that Jones be transferred from the jail to the hospital “immediately.”

“He shouldn’t have to languish in jail, waiting for a bed to open up at Western,” Davies said.

While Jefferson County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Anna Phillips later took exception to Davies’ use of the word “languish,” she registered her own complaint about the fact that the hospital report was not issued early enough to preclude transporting Jones from the hospital to the jail.

Phillips said that Jones could have just as easily taken part remotely in the Superior Court hearing from the hospital as from the jail.

“The law allows for a defendant to appear telephonically in these types of proceedings,” Phillips said. “There would be less downtime and turnaround time. I don’t believe [Jones] is ‘languishing,’ but I believe that in all cases we want the system to function as efficiently as possible.”

To that end, a status hearing has been scheduled for Aug. 18 to confirm Jones’ return to Western.

While Phillips stipulated that she cannot comment on the contents of the hospital’s evaluation, she reiterated what was stated in open court, that “the evaluator is of the opinion that, with further treatment, Mr. Jones can be restored to competency.”

When asked how often this cycle of competency evaluations and stays at the hospital to attempt to restore Jones’ competency could wind up repeating itself, Phillips said, “I will do some research on this issue.”