MILWAUKEE — A Milwaukee County judge has ruled 24-year-old Amando Lang mentally competent, reinstating his first-degree intentional homicide charge in a 2019 stabbing death.
Lang is accused of stabbing and killing Ben Christianson six years ago in Greenfield. His case never went to trial at that time because he was deemed mentally incompetent.
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In court Tuesday, prosecutors had called for Lang to be held on a $200,000 cash bail. However, Judge David Swanson sided with the defense, releasing him back to a secure and locked mental health facility in Franklin.
Lang’s attorney explained that’s where he has been living for the majority of the past two years. For a brief period from May to June, his lawyer said he was moved to a lower-level group home.
Watch: Murder suspect Amando Lang ruled mentally competent by Milwaukee County judge
That move coincided with when Greenfield police were called to his mother’s home, where he was having a mental health crisis.
He is now back in a locked facility, where the judge believes Lang is not a threat to the community.
“I do think it’s a fair step that they took today to ensure he is going to stay in a place where he’s being monitored and hopefully it can give the victim’s family peace of mind too, because I think that was probably the biggest thing weighing on them,” Milwaukee County Supervisor Kathleen Vincent said.
Lang is due back in court next month. The next step is for another doctor to determine whether Lang was competent at the time of the alleged murder in 2019.
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