Texas mass shooting suspect declared incompetent
A man accused of killing six people in a mass shooting last year has been found incompetent to stand trial. Shane James Jr. may never stand trial for his crimes in Austin and San Antonio.
Austin, Texas – A man accused of killing six people in a mass shooting last year has been found incompetent to stand trial. Shane James Jr. may never stand trial for his crimes in Austin and San Antonio.
“The case has been suspended,” said criminal attorney Jeremy Rosenthal, who is not connected to the case.
A Travis County judge signed an incompetence motion against James last month. James currently faces numerous charges, including capital murder, for the December 2023 shooting. James admitted to killing his parents in San Antonio after his father told him a joke. The suspect then traveled to Austin, where he killed four more people and injured two police officers and a bicyclist, authorities said.
In August, James made an interesting request.
“I want to represent myself,” Shane James Jr. said in court.
Texas shooting suspect in court
Shane James Jr., the suspect in last December’s multi-county shooting spree, appeared in a Travis County courtroom for the first time Friday.
Defense barrister Russell Hunt said he asked James to undergo a mental competency test, but he refused.
“I thought it was unnecessary, it was baseless, it was baseless, it had no reason, and they said they didn’t believe I was competent,” James said in court. spoke.
“If a person can be mentally incompetent, it’s not at all unusual for that person to not believe that they are mentally incompetent,” Hunt said.
Judge Clifford Brown said James would need to undergo a competency assessment in any case if he wanted representation.
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“What I would suggest to you is to work through your lawyer and talk to the professional psychologist that they employ, so you can address that in the future,” Judge Brown said. .
In October 2024, James was found incompetent to stand trial. James was ordered to undergo up to 120 days of observation and treatment at a state mental health facility with the goal of becoming competent to stand trial.
“They’re treating him, giving him medication and trying to get him back on his feet,” Rosenthal said.
Texas shooting suspect indicted
Additional charges have been added against 34-year-old Shane James, who police say was involved in mass shootings in Austin and San Antonio on Tuesday, Dec. 5, that left six people dead and three injured.
Rosenthal said that if James is not found guilty within that period, “in murder and capital cases, if the conviction is a life sentence, he will be sentenced to life in prison indefinitely until the conviction is reinstated.” He will be remanded in custody and will face trial at that time.” ”
However, James must first be admitted to a state hospital.
The Travis County Sheriff’s Office announced that as of November 12, 2024, more than 130 people in the Travis County Jail have been deemed incompetent to stand trial and are awaiting treatment. James is restricted to only two state hospitals because the level of crime he has been charged with requires maximum security. Those at the top of the waiting list for maximum security hospitals have been waiting more than 285 days.
James has a history of mental illness. According to a Bexar County arrest warrant, James suffers from schizophrenia. According to his family, he continued to deteriorate mentally even after being discharged from the military in 2015.
Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzalez said, “We know there was a history of mental illness here, but again, there is nothing to indicate that this person intended to commit murder, and there were multiple victims.” “It was never serious enough to cause anyone to die.”
Texas mass shooting: The gunman’s troubled past
New records raise red flags at the home of Shane James, the suspect in Tuesday’s shooting. It seems that there have been many opportunities for intervention in the past. Dillon Collier of San Antonio news partner KSAT reports on this story.
In 2018, Dimitrios Pagourtzis admitted to shooting and killing eight students and two teachers at Santa Fe High School.
“The families and victims have been waiting for justice for a long time,” said Galveston County District Attorney Jack Rody.
The confessed gunman continues to be deemed incompetent to stand trial.
The case of Robert Lewis Deere Jr., who is accused of entering a Planned Parenthood facility in Colorado Springs with an assault rifle in 2015 and fatally shooting three people and injuring nine others, will go to trial in 2016. Ever since it was determined that he was incapable of receiving the treatment, he has been stuck in limbo.
Russell Eugene Weston Jr., who was charged with killing two U.S. Capitol Police officers in 1998, has not yet been found competent to stand trial.
“If you don’t get your status back, you basically become a ward of the state,” Rosenthal said.
Mr. James is scheduled for a hearing in Travis County on January 27, 2025.
Source: Information in this report comes from an interview conducted by FOX Austin’s Meredith Aldis and previous reporting.
