TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas — A Travis County judge has found Shane James Jr., accused of killing six people in a December shooting spree across Austin and San Antonio, incompetent to stand trial, according to court records filed last Wednesday.
The ruling comes less than a month after James, 35, appeared in court requesting to represent himself and objecting to a mental competency evaluation. During that hearing, James told Judge Clifford Brown the evaluation was “unnecessary” and “baseless.”
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Court documents show a writ of commitment was issued following the competency evaluation report. This typically means the defendant will be transferred to a state mental health facility for treatment until competency is restored.
James is charged with killing his parents in San Antonio before driving to Austin, where he allegedly killed four more people and wounded three others, including two police officers. The former Army officer has a documented history of mental health issues.
His defense attorney, Russell Hunt Jr., had previously noted it wasn’t unusual for clients to resist psychological evaluations, describing James as trying to “get some control of the situation.”
