Police say he beat his wife to death over their cat’s vet bills. But a judge says he’s not competent to stand trial.

An elderly Lower Pottsgrove Township man who prosecutors say beat his wife to death in November will not face trial after a Montgomery County Court judge dismissed the murder charges against him amid concerns about the man’s deteriorating health.

Barton Seltmann, 84, was scheduled to face a preliminary hearing later this month on first- and third-degree murder charges in the death of his longtime wife, Margaret. Investigators said Seltmann bludgeoned his wife, 85, to death during a Nov. 28 fight over the cost of their cat’s veterinary bills.

But his lawyer, Patrick Duffy, wrote in court filings submitted in late January that Seltmann suffered from advanced dementia and was not fit to stand trial.

Judge William Carpenter agreed and dismissed all criminals charges against Seltmann in a brief ruling filed late last week. Carpenter based his decision on a state statute that allows for dismissal of a case if a defendant is not competent and unlikely to regain competency to stand trial.

Duffy declined to comment on the outcome of the case, noting that a guardian has been appointed by the county Orphans’ Court to make legal and medical decisions for Seltmann, a former police officer in West Pottsgrove Township and security chief for the long-shuttered Philadelphia Gear factory.

Seltmann called 911 on the day of his wife’s murder, telling police his wife was dead and someone had “beat her,” according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest. He made it seem, investigators said, as if he had no idea what had happened to her.

But when officers from Lower Pottsgrove Police, including the department’s chief, arrived at Seltmann’s home, they found him on the porch, covered in blood. Inside, the officers found Margaret Seltmann unresponsive, with severe injuries to her head. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

It was then, police said, that her husband admitted that he had beaten her.

During an interview with detectives, Seltmann said he and his wife had been arguing over the mounting cost of their cat’s veterinary care, when she, in a burst of anger, grabbed a kitchen knife and threatened him with it, the affidavit said. In response, he said, he pushed his wife with a nearby chair, knocking her to the floor.

He then hit her with a candle holder and continued to beat her as she lay on the floor, the affidavit said. During the assault, Seltmann said, she told him he was killing her and then she eventually “fell asleep,” according to the affidavit.

But about a week later, as he met with Duffy, his lawyer, for the first time while locked up in the county jail, Seltmann seemed confused and disoriented, according to court filings.

In a Jan. 22 petition to reduce Seltmann’s bail, Duffy wrote that Seltmann told him he didn’t know why he was in jail and did not seem to know what had happened to his wife, whom he referred to in the present tense. Duffy said Seltmann told him he “will like his wife when [he] meets her,” according to the petition.

It was clear at that point, Duffy wrote, that Seltmann was in the “throes of dementia.” A month before his wife’s death, Seltmann underwent a CAT scan that showed tissue loss in the right frontal lobe of his brain, the petition said. He met with a neurologist Nov. 8 after being hospitalized for being “confused and agitated,” and couldn’t remember what the specialist had told him the following day.

While in prison, Seltmann’s health declined rapidly, according to Duffy. He had to be transferred from the county jail to a private medical facility for treatment on Jan. 12 after suffering a cardiac episode.

Seltmann remains there, bedridden and unable to communicate, the filing said.

Duffy said he doubted his client would ever be competent to stand trial. He noted that Seltmann’s daughter was supporting him and wanted him to receive proper care in his final years.

She did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.