Galveston County DA does not intend to object to incompetency ruling in Santa Fe shooting trial

The Galveston County District Attorney’s Office says they do not intend to object to a ruling on the defendant’s incompetency to stand trial for the Santa Fe High School shooting.

The DA says three experts who examined the defendant’s competency to stand trial found that he was currently incompetent to stand trial.

“Given that there is no evidence with which we can further challenge this issue, we do not intend to object to the Court entering a finding that the defendant is currently incompetent to stand trial,” Criminal District Attorney Jack Roady said in a statement.

Roady says whether a defendant is currently competent to stand trial in a case is different than whether he was insane at the time of the offense. He says their focus continues to be getting the case tried to obtain justice for the victims, and their next step is to have the defendant restored to competency.

The district attorney released this statement on Tuesday:

In August 2019, defense attorneys for Dimitrios Pagourtzis asked the Court to order an examination of whether the defendant was competent to stand trial.  The defense supported this request with an opinion from their hired expert that the defendant was currently incompetent.

The Court appointed an independent expert to conduct a competency evaluation.  A few weeks ago, that expert informed the Court that she also believed the defendant was currently incompetent to stand trial.

Since the law allows both the State and defense the ability to challenge the defendant’s competency, we sought a third opinion from an expert whom the State had retained early on in this case.  That expert has now agreed with the Court’s expert that the defendant is currently incompetent to stand trial.  Given that there is no evidence with which we can further challenge this issue, we do not intend to object to the Court entering a finding that the defendant is currently incompetent to stand trial.

Whether a defendant is currently competent to stand trial in a case is different than whether he was insane at the time of the offense.  While experts have given an opinion on the defendant’s current competency to stand trial, there has been no determination on his sanity at the time of the offense.  That issue can only be resolved at trial.

Our focus continues to be getting this case tried to obtain justice for the victims.  That means the next step is to use every effort to have this defendant restored to competency.  The law provides a process to get that done, and we will use every resource available to ensure that it gets done as quickly as possible."