Jury finds Jorge Banda competent to stand trial for murder

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By Preston Phillips

Story Published: Aug 20, 2008 at 11:03 PM EDT

Story Updated: Aug 20, 2008 at 11:03 PM EDT

The prosecution maintained all along, Jorge Banda was competent to stand trial and was faking his incompetence, and Wednesday, the jury agreed.

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Jurors heard six days of testimony from some of Banda’s family members and four experts in the field of psychology, three of whom believed Banda was competent to stand trial and one of whom said he was incompetent, mentally retarded, and insane at the time of the murder.

The defense argued all along that Banda had been hearing voices all his life, something Banda says caused him to stress out, which he says caused him to shoot Detective Kent Haws, when he was approached on December 17, 2007.

Now that the jury has found Banda competent, the judge has re-instated the murder trial.

Banda will be back in court on August 28th for a preliminary hearing, which is expected to take about two days.

That’s when the judge will have to decide if a crime was committed and if Banda was the one who committed the crime.

Banda’s arraignment is expected to take place 15 days after the preliminary hearing, where Banda’s attorney says Banda will enter a plea of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.

For the full story, click on the video link to watch Preston Phillips’ report.

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