Judge rules Yeh not competent to stand trial

By Scott E. Williams
The Daily News

Published July 22, 2006

GALVESTON — U.S. District Magistrate John Froeschner said Friday he would recommend treatment for the brain injuries that he said made Daniel Yeh incompetent to stand trial.

Yeh, 52, is operator of the Flagship Hotel and faces a charge of bilking at least $232,000 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The U.S. government has accused Yeh of filing fraudulent reimbursement claims for money earmarked to aid hurricane evacuees.

Yeh’s attorney, Bob Bennett, had claimed Yeh was incompetent to stand trial because of brain damage suffered during three surgeries in 1994, 1995 and this year.

Froeschner appointed forensic psychiatrist Dr. Victor Scarano to examine Yeh. Scarano testified Thursday, the first day of Yeh’s competency hearing, that the defendant was not competent to stand trial.

Prosecutors asserted Yeh was “malingering,” or feigning mental defect. As a forensic psychiatrist, Scarano specializes in weeding out malingerers, and he said Yeh was not one.

Scarano recommended that Yeh not go a psychiatric hospital under the purview of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, one of which is a typical destination for a federal defendant found incompetent to stand trial. Scarano said Yeh should go to a Galveston center that specializes in treating neurological brain injury, which Yeh suffered during the surgeries to remove a brain tumor.

Froeschner said he would recommend that center for Yeh.

Once Froeschner makes his recommendation, the case goes to U.S. District Court Judge Samuel Kent, who will either echo Froeschner’s recommendation, or make one of his own. From there, the case will go to the U.S. Attorney General’s Office, which is not bound to follow the court’s recommendation.

An indictment issued in March spells out 22 wire fraud counts against Yeh carrying a punishment of up to 20 years imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000. Each of 17 false claim counts carries a punishment of up to five years imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000.