Taylor Santiago, the Missouri woman who faces a capital murder charge in the January shooting death of a Eureka Springs woman, will have to undergo a mental evaluation before being allowed to represent herself in court, Carroll County Circuit Judge Scott Jackson ruled Monday, Dec. 15.
During a brief hearing before Jackson, Santiago was accompanied by attorney Gregg E. Parrish of the Arkansas Public Defenders Commission. Parrish told Jackson that he met with Santiago earlier that morning as well as the night before and she confirmed her desire to represent herself, which she had expressed during a previous court appearance on Dec. 1. Parrish noted that prosecutors have not waived the death penalty should Santiago, 32, be convicted in the Jan. 23 death of Sophia Williams, 36, in the bedroom of a home at 17 County Road 511.
While Jackson did not rule on Santiago’s request, he told her: “I think it is a bad idea. I would strongly advise you against this decision.”
Jackson also told Santiago that if her request is granted, she can ask for an attorney “at any time.” In the meantime, he ordered that a mental exam be conducted and also ordered Parrish and and the Carroll County Public Defender’s Office to appear at all hearings in the case as “standby counsel.”
Santiago’s next court appearance is scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday, Jan. 26, in Carroll County Circuit Court in Berryville.
Before court convened Monday, Santiago was seated in the courtroom’s jury box along with nine other inmates from the Carroll County Detention Center, dressed in a faded orange jumpsuit with her hair pulled back into a ponytail. She looked straight ahead and did not interact with the other inmates.
When Jackson called her case, she stood before him in handcuffs, shackled at the waist and feet, and answered his questions in a polite tone, acknowledging her desire to represent herself.
Santiago is charged with capital murder, first-degree attempted capital murder, aggravated residential burglary, first-degree battery and four felony counts of endangering the welfare of a minor.
Those charges stem from an incident on Jan. 23, when Santiago allegedly shot Williams as she lay in bed in the home on County Road 511. Williams’ boyfriend, Nathan Green, who was 34 at the time, was shot in the cheek and was transported from the scene by ambulance, according to an affidavit filed by prosecutors after the incident seeking an arrest warrant for Santiago.
The affidavit said Santiago shares a child with Green and that four children, all under the age of 10, were in the home when the shootings occurred.
In April, Santiago was sentenced to life in prison without parole in Missouri after pleading guilty to killing her estranged husband in Aurora, Mo.
During an interview with Aurora police, the affidavit says, Santiago said she had killed three people. Santiago said she had first shot Troy Huffman, her estranged husband, in Missouri and then drove Huffman’s Mercedes to Green’s home in Arkansas and shot him and his girlfriend, according to the affidavit. Santiago told Aurora police that she killed Huffman because she needed a vehicle, the affidavit says.
The affidavit says that Santiago told police she had lost sole custody of her daughter and feared she would go to jail because she couldn’t pay child support.
Santiago told Aurora police that she had never been to Green’s “new place” and that she had to use her phone to map the address, which she got from court documents in the custody case, the affidavit says.
