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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA man accused of fatally shooting a western Indiana police officer during an ambush outside an FBI field office has a history of mental health conditions, his attorneys said in court Friday.
Shane Meehan, 44, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Craig McKee in the federal courthouse in Terre Haute, where his legal counsel said Meehan has been diagnosed by doctors with several health conditions, including post-concussion syndrome, a traumatic brain injury, a seizure disorder, Parkinson’s disease and chronic pain syndrome.
They said he was placed on permanent medical leave from his position at the federal prison complex in Terre Haute due to his medical history and that he had previously been hospitalized related to suicidal ideations.
Meehan’s attorneys also requested that prosecutors disclose interviews they conducted with Meehan’s family, in which his mental health was discussed.
Meehan is charged with premeditated murder of a federal agent in the slaying of Terre Haute police Detective Greg Ferency, a 30-year department veteran who was also a federal task force agent.
Ferency was 53 and the father of 18-year-old twins when he was killed in Terre Haute on July 7. In that incident, a man threw a Molotov cocktail at an FBI office and then shot the officer as he emerged from the building, authorities said.
Ferency and an FBI agent both fired on Meehan, wounding him in the ambush in the city about 70 miles west of Indianapolis.
Meehan is being held in a county jail, unidentified by the government or defense. Attorneys for the government have requested Meehan be detained through the court proceedings. A judge will consider that motion at a later date.
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