SARASOTA, Fla. (Court TV) — The case against a Florida man charged with killing his roommate using a knife, scissors and golf clubs is on hold after a judge ruled him incompetent to stand trial.
Coy Bothwell is charged with homicide. (Sarasota County Jail)
Coy Bothwell, 47, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Tiffany Schiessl, 32, who had lived with the defendant for only two months before her death.
Bothwell’s defense attorney raised concerns about his competency days after his arrest in April 2026, saying in a motion that the defendant had “no rational, or factual, understanding of the nature of the proceedings pending herein.” The motion detailed that Bothwell had previously been found incompetent by a court in 2025 and “never received competency restoration training.” Bothwell also allegedly engaged in “irrelevant dialogue” and would not respond to direct questions when the attorney attempted to meet with him about the case.
“Defendant appears to be suffering from a state of mental and emotional disorganization, the degree of which is unclear, which is characterized by, among other things, the replacement or distortion of reality by delusions or bizarre notions as to the meaning of the activities around Defendant and of Defendant’s own acts,” his attorney wrote.
Tiffany Schiessl (AM Cremation)
Bothwell underwent a court-ordered competency exam. Judge Donna Padar reviewed the confidential report his doctors submitted before declaring him incompetent to proceed. The order, published Tuesday, requires Bothwell to be treated at a mental health facility until he can be restored to competency to stand trial.
When he called 911 on April 5, 2026, Bothwell told dispatchers that a woman had broken into his home with scissors. When police arrived, the defendant allegedly confessed that the victim was not a burglar, but was his roommate and that he attacked her with a knife and scissors after he struggled to get into the residence upon his return home, despite having the keys. After stabbing the victim in the head, neck and chest, Bothwell hit her with golf clubs until they broke, police said.
Before his transfer to a mental health facility, Bothwell was being held at the Sarasota County Jail without bond.
