Montco man charged with wife's murder found incompetent

Looking bedraggled and saying nothing, Joseph Giongo was found incompetent yesterday in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court to stand trial for the killing of his wife.

Giongo glanced around the courtroom during the half-hour hearing, looking occasionally at his mother in the front row, who trembled and waved in response.

That was more communication than Giongo's attorney, Leigh Narducci, said he had had from his client. Narducci said he had never had a client as reticent as Giongo, 44, who is accused of beating and stomping his wife, Bernadette Giongo, to death in front of their 7-year-old son in their Conshohocken home in December.

"He'll stare straight ahead," Narducci said later. "He won't make eye contact with me."

During the hearing before Judge Kent H. Albright, Narducci said Giongo had made small talk once with him but refused to discuss the case.

Steven Samuel, a psychologist Narducci hired, said he also had failed to get much of a response from Giongo, a father of three. He testified that the slaying seemed to have amplified Giongo's previously diagnosed paranoia and bipolar disorder.

Samuel said that the mentally ill who commit acts of drastic violence frequently withdraw.

"They shut down emotionally because their brain has been overloaded by the trauma," Samuel said. "That's not unusual."

Samuel, who is frequently hired by Montgomery County prosecutors, evaluated Giongo as unfit for trial, and Assistant District Attorney Wallis Brooks did not call upon a second psychologist to challenge the diagnosis.

Albright ordered Giongo sent to Norristown State Hospital for treatment. The case will be reviewed in 90 days to see whether his condition has improved.