Denver District Court Judge Sheila Rappaport has ordered a second evaluation to decide if a man accused of killing a business partner and dumping his body in the Utah desert is competent to stand trial.
Public defenders for Joong Rhee, 68, whose trial for the murder of Hae C. Park was scheduled to begin today, requested a second competency hearing after the first found he could be tried, said Lynn Kimbrough, spokeswoman for the Denver District Attorney’s Office.
Rhee told the Post that the last time he saw Park in March, 2010, they traded blows, but denied killing him.
When Park, 64, failed to return home after that meeting, his family reported him missing. Police went to Rhee’s mortgage business, found a lot of blood and charged Rhee with Park’s murder.
But there was no corpse until last summer, when a traveler stumbled on a human jawbone and damaged skull in the Utah desert. The Denver Police Department’s Crime Lab determined that the remains are Park’s.
Rhee is charged with first degree murder, tampering with physical evidence, concealing a death and abusing a corpse. His new trial date is May 7.
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
