LAKE COUNTY, Fla. – A judge has not yet ruled whether a woman accused of helping lure Lake County sheriff’s deputies into a deadly ambush is mentally competent to stand trial.
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Julie Sulpizio faces charges of first-degree murder of a law enforcement officer, attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the 2024 attack.
What’s New:
After a daylong competency hearing, the judge asked attorneys to submit additional documents before issuing a decision in the coming weeks.
Three psychologists testified that Julie Sulpizio suffers from dissociative identity disorder and other serious mental health conditions. Sulpizio was diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in 2025 and found incompetent for trial, according to court records.
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However, earlier this year, doctors at the Florida State Hospital deemed her competent to stand trial, according to court documents.
Defense experts said her psychosis and detachment from reality prevent her from understanding the legal proceedings or assisting in her defense, making her incompetent to stand trial.
A psychologist called by prosecutors disagreed, testifying that while Sulpizio has mental illness, her symptoms do not necessarily mean she is legally incompetent.
The competency hearing is separate from an insanity defense and focuses on whether a defendant can understand court proceedings and assist counsel at the present time.
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Sulpizio is accused of participating in an August 2024 ambush that left her husband, Michael Sulpizio, and the couple’s adult daughters, Savannah and Cheyenne, dead after an exchange of gunfire with deputies. Julie Sulpizio survived and faces charges in connection with the incident.
Sulpizio was previously ruled incompetent to stand trial but was later deemed improved by doctors at a state hospital. The judge has not announced when he will issue a final ruling on her competency.
Deputy killed, two others injured in ambush
The backstory:
Sulpizio is accused of luring deputies to her rural Lake County home in August 2024 to ambush them.
Deputies were responding to a disturbance call at the home where Sulpizio lived with her husband and their two adult daughters.
Julie Sulpizio (Credit: Sumter County Jail)
When deputies arrived at Sulpizio’s home, they were attacked and met with a “hail of gunfire,” authorities said.
Master Deputy Bradley Link was shot and killed in the attack. Deputies Harold Howell and Stefano Gargano were injured.
Sulpizio’s husband and her two daughters were found dead inside the home with self-inflicted gunshot wounds, according to authorities.
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