At the behest of the man’s lawyer, a court in North Carolina has ordered a psychiatric assessment of a man who was caught in the vehicle of a deceased Lyft driver from Florida and who is also accused of homicide in a separate case.
According to WLOS-reporting, TV’s the order arrived on Wednesday as Florida authorities moved to transfer Matthew Scott Flores, a suspect in the murder of Lyft driver Gary Levin.
Flores, 35, had his probable cause hearing in Rutherford County after being apprehended for parole breach, runaway status, criminal racing to escape capture, and driving under the influence following a high-speed chase through numerous counties. The court reportedly allowed the assessment after his lawyer sought it.
According to court documents, Flores was also charged with first-degree murder, grand theft auto, possession of a weapon by a criminal, and interfering with evidence in connection with the January 24 gunshot death of Jose Carlos Martinez, 43, in Wauchula.
As of January 30, when Levin, 74, failed to return from handing off a client in Okeechobee, a tiny community about 70 miles (110 kilometers) east of Wauchula, police were looking for Flores.
There were sightings of Levin’s Kia Stinger in north Florida, including in Gainesville, Okeechobee, and Miami, after he vanished.
On February 2, the car was halted in North Carolina after a regional task team of the United States Marshals Service had urged local officials to keep an eye out for it.
Levin’s corpse was discovered in Okeechobee and later positively recognized.
McDowell and Rutherford County District Attorney Ted Bell told WLOS he intends to negotiate a plea deal for Flores before he is extradited to Florida.
Bell stated that they were not in a place that dropped accusations. Florida’s state attorney’s office has been in constant contact with them and will stay in touch to figure out together what the best course of action is for everyone involved.
Moreover, Bell said that there was no assurance if he should ignore him or not; it all comes down to the big picture.