Justice delayed irks Indiana family

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - It will be a year next month since Mark Moore was stabbed from behind at the Motel Six on Alpine and Three Mile Road. It will be at least three more months until Moore's family will learn if they'll get the justice they seek.

Their patience is wearing thin.

"We are not asking for vengeance. We are asking for justice," said Moore's sister, Stacia Barnes, reading statements from various family members after Friday's competency hearing for accused killer Jack Jacqmain.

Barnes and Moore's wife, Jarrin, made the trip from Indiana to hear whether a judge would order Jacqmain to stand trial for the August 18, 2010 stabbing.

Investigators say there was no provocation for the stabbing.

Moore, who lived in Indiana, was in town installing cell phone towers. Jaqcmain, who has a history of mental problems, allegedly stabbed Moore several times in the back.

Jacqmain is charged with murder.

But a state psychiatric examination determined that, as of right now, Jacqmian could not assist in his own defense. Until that time, there will be no trial.

A 2003 article in the Michigan Criminal Law Annual Journal suggest competency evaluations for suspects only happens in about 8% of felony cases in Michigan.

There is a chance further treatment will work and Jacqmain will be sent to trial.

"They find he has exhibited improvement in his mental thought status from the last progress update from March," said District Court Judge Peter Versluis, reading from a Michigan State Forensic Center report.

State law maintains the trials can continue to be postponed, as long as there's evidence the suspect is making progress.

Still, the process can be frustrating for families seeking justice. Justice delayed is not easy to explain to Moore's young daughter.

"She misses her daddy everyday," her mother, Jarrin, told 24 Hour News 8.

"Mark was murdered on the 18th of August. And there's not an 18th day of every month, every holiday, Fathers Day, birthday, ballgame that isn't painful for us," Barnes said. "All we hear is that Jacqmain has his rights. Where are Mark's rights? Yeah, we have a problem with the current laws."

The judge ordered another competency hearing in 90 days.