The suspect accused of stabbing a Boise man to death on the Greenbelt this summer has been found to be “dangerously mentally ill” and unfit to stand trial – for now.
At a hearing Tuesday morning, court documents revealed that a psychological exam found 41-year-old Ross Wardlaw “dangerously mentally ill” under Idaho law.
That means the pending murder charge against him could be put on hold indefinitely.
Idaho law does not allow for defendants to enter an insanity plea. Instead, they must receive mental health treatment until they can be stabilized.
The Ada County Prosecutor’s Office could challenge the determination, but it said it needs to further review Wardlaw’s medical records before making that decision.
Boise Police arrested him last month, saying he stabbed 25-year-old Jordan Harbst to death in the early morning hours of July 6 while Harbst rode a scooter home from downtown.
Wardlaw is currently being held without bail.
As previously reported by Boise State Public Radio, Wardlaw has a long and violent criminal history, including most recently felony assault and battery charges.
That case, in which an Ada County jury found him not guilty earlier this year, involved accusations he punched another homeless man in the face as well as threatening to stab the man and a shelter worker.
A psychologist initially found him mentally unfit to stand trial in that case, too, and a judge committed him to State Hospital South.
During his stay, Wardlaw wrote a letter to the judge calling himself a “strange bird/duck/Aryan Knight” and stating the treatments he received are unconstitutional and a “violation of human rights.”
When he appeared in his own defense on the witness stand, Wardlaw said the other man had stolen one of his notebooks, which he said documented his life from 2022 to 2024.
“An investigator should be able to go through that notebook and discover links to certain crimes that have involved me,” he said.
Wardlaw said the FBI “could be” involved but didn’t want to speculate.
His next court appearance in the murder case could be as early as Sept. 8.
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