An evaluation of a man accused of a string of stabbings in January in downtown Denver concluded he is competent to stand trial. 

The defense attorneys of Elijah Caudill, meanwhile, are seeking to prove otherwise.

Denver District Judge Karen Brody scheduled a competency hearing for the 24-year-old suspect on Oct. 24, some nine months after he was arrested for allegedly stabbing four victims on 16th Street, leaving two dead.

Caudill was charged with two charges of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault and four violent crime sentence enhancers by the Denver District Attorney’s Office on Jan. 17.

The string of stabbings occurred on Jan. 11 and 12.

Caudill’s defense attorney, Ariana Burnette, asked for a full-day hearing, with mental health experts testifying that Caudill is not mentally competent to stand trial. 

The defense requested the hearing after the Colorado Mental Health Hospital in Pueblo at the Colorado Department of Human Services in Denver filed a competency evaluation on June 23, according to court records.

While the evaluation is suppressed, the court “received a report finding defendant competent to proceed to adjudication,” the records said.

Caudill’s history with mental illness stretches back before he allegedly stabbed and killed 34-year-old Nicholas Burkett and 71-year-old Celinda Levno, and injured a 49-year-old man and 62-year-old man.

His defense previously claimed Caudill suffered from an “obvious, severe and debilitating mental illness” in a Jan. 17 motion to limit pre-trial publicity and asked the judge to deny any requests for expanded media coverage in the ongoing case, according to court records.

Caudill has been arrested 15 times since 2018 in metro Denver on charges that included criminal mischief, disturbing the peace, robbery, menacing and twice for sex assault.

His probation officer, following a 2021 menacing case, filed a previous motion seeking to revoke his probation and requested that the judge order Caudill to complete what’s known as “cognitive behavioral therapy” to address “anti-social behaviors.”

Caudill didn’t complete the therapy, which led to another motion to revoke his probation.

In that case, the judge checked a box in a court order that said, “There is reason to believe the defendant poses substantial risk of serious harm to others.” 

A Colorado Department of Corrections records also claimed that Caudill was yelling at voices in his head on May 23, 2023 and Feb. 21, 2024.