Sun City man ruled unable to stand trial after suffocating wife in botched murder-suicide
Less than a year after allegedly suffocating his wife in a botched murder-suicide, a Sun City man’s murder charge was dropped because he was found medically incompetent to stand trial.
John Kenneth Rounds, 78, was released from the Beaufort County Detention Center following a judge’s lack of competence ruling on Jan. 15. A Blair Hearing, also known as a competency hearing, was held Jan. 8, according to judicial records.
Named for a 1981 South Carolina murder case in which Charles Blair was declared unable to stand trial for the shooting death of his grandmother, a Blair Hearing allows the defendant’s lawyers to assert their client’s mental incompetence. The legal standard for such a ruling is described as “lack(ing) the capacity to understand the proceedings against him or to assist in his own defense,” according to South Carolina law.
Rounds’ murder charge was dismissed after he was found “not competent to stand trial and unlikely to become competent in the foreseeable future,” according to Taylor Diggs, a Beaufort County public defender who represents Rounds.
Depending on a judge’s ruling, defendants found incompetent to stand trial can face one of four outcomes:
- Remain in jail
- Get released on bond
- Be hospitalized through the South Carolina Department of Mental Health (if deemed incompetent due to mental illness)
- Be institutionalized through the state’s Department of Disabilities and Special Needs (if deemed incompetent due to an intellectual disability or a related condition)
It was unclear which legal path was ordered for Rounds. Diggs declined to comment further on her client’s case.
Police respond to the attempted murder-suicide
Beaufort County deputies arrived around 7:30 a.m. on March 23, 2024, to a house on Penny Creek Drive, located in the Deer Haven neighborhood of Sun City Hilton Head.
Rounds had called dispatch and briefly explained the situation, but then “stopped answering” questions, according to a sheriff’s office incident report. The dispatcher could only hear breathing in the background of the call.
Police entered the home and found “nothing out of the ordinary” until they came into a rear bedroom, where Rounds laid in bed next to his wife’s body, the report says. Both of their driver’s licenses were reportedly stuck to the front of a nearby dresser with blue painter’s tape.
Officials identified Rounds’ deceased wife as 77-year-old Catherine Rounds, who had died by suffocation.
John Rounds was treated for “several minor lacerations” at Coastal Carolina Hospital before his arrest for murder. He was booked that afternoon at the Beaufort County Detention Center, where he remained until his charge was dismissed in early 2025.
This story was originally published February 25, 2025 at 1:54 PM.
