Staff photos / Emily Scott ....Kevin Mallard, who is accused of shooting and blinding a man before getting in a shootout with police in Liberty, appears in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court for the first time in person.

WARREN — The lawyer for Kevin Mallard, accused of shooting a driver last month before getting into a shootout with police in Liberty, will submit documents he says will prove that Mallard should be found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Mallard, in a wheelchair, cuffed at the hands and feet, and wearing orange Trumbull County jail coveralls, made his first in-person appearance before a Trumbull County Common Pleas Court judge Tuesday.

Mallard, 55, was indicted on attempted aggravated murder with a firearm specification; attempted murder with a firearm specification; inducing panic with a firearm specification; improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle and carrying concealed weapons.

The insanity plea has not yet been accepted by the court. Mallard is scheduled to be back in the courtroom at 1:30 p.m. Aug. 9.

Public Defender Eugene J. Fehr this month was assigned to represent Mallard. He said that Mallard’s U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs medical records show he has a history of mental illness that can be used to determine his mental state on the day of the shooting.

In the pretrial hearing, Judge Ronald J. Rice asked Fehr to submit these records to the court under seal so that he can take a look at them before deciding on the insanity plea motion Fehr filed last week. Fehr also filed a motion seeking to declare Mallard unfit to stand trial. Fehr said these two are usually filed together.

“What I’m really interested in is whether or not he knows the difference between right and wrong on that day,” Fehr said. “He does suffer from mental illness.”

On June 10, Mallard is accused of approaching, shooting and blinding Zach Woods, 20, of Warren, as the victim sat behind the wheel of a Mercedes-Benz. Mallard got out of his car on the corner of East Liberty Street and Belmont Avenue to shoot Woods at arm’s length with a handgun, according to his indictment. He is accused of firing one shot, striking Woods in the left temple with the bullet traveling through both eye sockets and the nasal cavity.

The indictment states Mallard walked back to his Humvee after the shooting and drove off. He then turned onto East Liberty Street near an Interstate 80 exit ramp, where police officers responding to the shooting stopped him and a shootout began. Heavy gunfire was exchanged. Reports show police officers struck Mallard in the extremities several times.

Mallard, who was recovering from injuries as a result of that gunfight, was ordered transferred to the Trumbull County jail on July 19.

During a June 28 video arraignment before Rice, Mallard pleaded not guilty but asked if he could receive the death penalty. The judge informed him that he cannot because the crimes for which he is accused do not make him eligible.

escott@tribtoday.com