Jury Finds Six-Killing Suspect Competent for Trial

A Travis County jury found Shane James competent to stand trial over a December 2023 shooting spree that killed six people in the San Antonio and Austin areas and injured three others. The ruling means the capital murder case can proceed; jurors were selected, with opening statements expected Thursday. Competency concerns whether James can understand the proceedings and assist his lawyers, while his planned insanity defense will ask whether he understood that his alleged actions were wrong at the time. Expert witnesses disagreed about how symptoms including hallucinations and delusions affect James, who was previously found incompetent and received psychiatric treatment. His attorneys say they intend to argue he was legally insane during the shootings.