A judge has postponed the murder trial of Frederick Owusu-Sakyi and ordered a new inpatient competency examination on the court’s own initiative, despite prosecutors’ objections. The Oct. 14 order, filed after an Oct. 13 hearing, followed a trial setting for October; no new court dates have been set, The Frederick News-Post reported.
Owusu-Sakyi, of Walkersville, is charged with first-degree murder in the Jan. 6, 2024, shooting death of his estranged wife, Tenisha Butler, 33, outside the Giant grocery store in Urbana where she worked. The latest examination order is not a finding that he is incompetent: the News-Post reported that an earlier evaluation found him competent to stand trial in November 2024, and prosecutors said they did not believe he was incompetent.
Competency is not criminal responsibility
Maryland law treats competency to stand trial and criminal responsibility as separate questions. The state’s 2023 code defines incompetence to stand trial in terms of being unable to understand the nature or object of the proceeding or assist in one’s defense. That concerns a defendant’s ability to participate in court; criminal responsibility concerns mental capacity at the time of the alleged offense, according to the Maryland General Assembly’s code.
The new review follows an earlier defense filing in which Public Defender Stephen Musselman entered a plea of not criminally responsible on Owusu-Sakyi’s behalf. The filing argued that a mental disorder left him without substantial capacity to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or conform it to legal requirements, according to a Yahoo News report citing the filing. That plea is not a determination of guilt or criminal responsibility, just as the new competency examination is not a finding of incompetence.
The case and the protective order
Butler was killed outside the Giant on Sugarloaf Parkway. The Washington Post reported that deputies responded to the store at about 11:11 p.m. and found her there. The News-Post reported that Owusu-Sakyi was arrested the following day. He faces charges that include first-degree murder, firearm offenses, stalking and two counts of violating a protective order; prosecutors have given notice that they will seek life without parole if he is convicted.
Butler had filed for divorce the day before her death and had an active protective order, according to the News-Post. The order’s specific terms and whether any firearm-surrender provision applied are not established by the general legal guidance available here. The Supreme Court of Maryland has explained that a temporary protective order may, in most instances, include an order to surrender firearms to law enforcement; that guidance does not establish what Butler’s order required or whether it was enforced.
A separate civil case brought by Butler’s mother, Terri Butler, against the city of Frederick and its police department alleged that authorities failed to protect her daughter despite earlier reports of stalking, the News-Post reported. The case was dismissed in December 2025, according to online court records cited in the article. The dismissal does not resolve the criminal charges against Owusu-Sakyi.
For county residents seeking general domestic-violence support, Frederick County says Heartly House provides free services, including 24-hour crisis support and emergency shelter, and lists its hotline as 301-662-8800. The county information does not indicate whether Butler or her family used those services.
