Doctor: Ex-wrestler Superfly mentally incompetent
(AP) — Professional wrestler Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka suffered so many blows to the head during his long career — even getting a coconut smashed on his skull — that he now suffers from dementia and is mentally incompetent to stand trial in the death of his girlfriend more than three decades ago, a psychologist testified Friday.
Lehigh County Judge Kelly Banach, after hearing from prosecution and defense experts, will decide if Snuka is competent to stand trial.
The wrestler had been at a World Wrestling Federation taping at the Allentown Fairgrounds, and he told police shortly after Argentino's death that he had returned to their Whitehall Township hotel room to find her unresponsive in bed.
An autopsy determined she died of traumatic brain injuries and had more than three dozen cuts and bruises, and it concluded her injuries were consistent with being hit with a stationary object.
A grand jury report said Snuka, a Fiji native who lives in Waterford Township, New Jersey, had provided more than a half-dozen shifting accounts of Argentino's injuries, at first telling paramedics he hit her during an argument outside their hotel room and she struck her head on concrete, then saying to police she slipped and fell during a bathroom break on their way to the hotel.