UPDATE: Accused Murderer Jesse Matthew to Undergo Mental Health Evaluation: Report

PHOTO: Jesse Matthew Jr. jail booking photo

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UPDATE: 3 p.m. Accused murderer Jesse Matthew Jr. will undergo a mental health evaluation, according to a report out Monday by the Associated Press.

A court order entered after a hearing Monday says the expert will be paid $350 per hour to examine Matthew before his trial next summer, the newspaper reported.

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Jesse Matthew Jr., accused in the murder of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham, is due in court Monday for a surprise hearing, according to a report by CBS affiliate, Channel 6, in Richmond.

Matthew is scheduled to appear Monday at noon before an Albemarle County judge, according to the TV station report.

The Monday hearing is a surprise — he was next due in court Dec. 17.

Matthew’s defense team, according to the report, recently wrote a letter to the judge indicating there was now no need to have that Dec. 17 hearing.

Matthew faces two first-degree murder charges:

• The 2014 abduction and murder of Graham, 18, a graduate of West Potomac High School.
• The 2009 abduction and murder of Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington, 20, who was in Charlottesville attending at concert when she was killed.

Matthew is scheduled to go on trial for Graham’s death in July and for Harrington’s death in October.M

Matthew was sentenced to three life prison sentences earlier this year in what was called a brutal attack of a woman in Fairfax City.