An Indiana County man serving time in the 2015 beating death of his mother pleaded guilty Monday in Westmoreland County court in connection with an attack on another patient at Torrance State Hospital in Derry Township.
Todd Royce Walters, 43, was sentenced to time served to 12 months on a simple assault charge. A strangulation charge was dismissed as part of a plea bargain with prosecutors.
The sentence will run concurrently with a 15-to-40-year sentence Walters is serving at the state prison in Somerset County in the death of his mother, Ruth Shirey, 72.
Walters had been undergoing treatment at the hospital after his arrest on the homicide charge when a witness told state police that she saw Walters attack another patient and put him in a chokehold on April 18, 2019, according to court papers.
The patient told troopers he was “taken by surprise.”
He had a cut finger and muscle strain.
Police said employees broke up the altercation.
Walters was ordered to pay $100 in restitution.
The hearing was conducted by video.
He appeared several times to waver in his intent to plead guilty Monday as Judge Rita Hathaway gathered information in advance of accepting the plea.
She described the case as not complicated after Walters said he hadn’t seen his attorney in awhile.
“If you don’t want to take this, you don’t have to take this plea,” she said.
Walters could have faced a consecutive sentence if convicted of the offenses at trial.
Public defender Michael Garofalo explained to Walters his rights and what could transpire if a jury was selected.
After Hathaway read from a police complaint the accusations against him and detailed witnesses that could be called, he decided against a trial.
“I think I’ll take the plea bargain,” he said.
Walters pleaded no contest in 2020 to the homicide charge in Indiana County court.
Authorities said he beat his mother to death on Feb. 20, 2015, in their Indiana home.
Shirey was a retired geography professor at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Walters was arrested in Altoona the next day and underwent numerous evaluations and competency hearings.