Competency hearing set for woman in sister’s death

A Madison woman accused of leaving her elderly sister to die is due back in court this week for a competency hearing.

Prosecutors have charged 72-year-old Veronica King with leaving her 70-year-old sister, Mary Coleman, on the floor to die after Coleman fell in King’s house in May 2009.

Authorities said King and her son, Steven King, of Evansville, went out for pizza instead of helping Coleman after she fell down.

Coleman, died two days later at Veronica King’s home, according to the criminal complaint

They’ve also accused her of withdrawing about $6,400 from the sisters’ shared bank account that summer. Veronica King faces a number of charges, including first-degree reckless homicide and fraud.

Dane County Circuit Judge Julie Genovese has scheduled a competency hearing for Veronica King on Friday.

Prosecutors charged Steven King in Coleman’s death as well after investigators said he told them he watched TV while Coleman lay on the floor. Genovese ruled in October he wasn’t competent to stand trial.

According to the complaint, Steven King said that after Coleman fell, they “went about their normal business” and that they didn’t help her up.

Steven King told investigators his aunt was talking, but he “told her quite frankly to shut up,” according to the complaint.

It goes on to say Steven King told police they “didn’t think there was anything they could do for her so they went to Rocky’s for pizza.”

After Coleman died two days later, the Kings put Coleman’s body in a garage, according to the complaint.

According to the complaint, Veronica King told investigators she “used some garbage bags and she put Mary into the garbage bags herself and dragged her to the garage.”

A doctor said Coleman had had a previous stroke and it was “likely that she had another stroke” and that she “could have survived the stroke if she would have been brought in for medical care,” according to the complaint.