A judge ruled Wednesday that a Concord man is now mentally competent to stand trial on a murder charge for the fatal stabbing of 18-year-old Nia Wilson at the MacArthur BART station in Oakland a year ago.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge James Cramer suspended the criminal proceedings against John Lee Cowell, 28, last Dec. 27, saying there was “substantial evidence” that he’s mentally incompetent to stand trial.
But at a hearing on Wednesday, Cramer reinstated the criminal proceedings against Cowell, based in part on a recent doctor’s report that found that Cowell is competent to stand trial.
One psychiatrist who examined Cowell earlier this year said he believed Cowell is incompetent to stand trial but another expert said he was unable to arrive at a conclusion about Cowell’s competency.
Cowell is charged with murder and attempted murder for allegedly stabbing Wilson and her sister, 26-year-old Letifah Wilson, on the platform at the MacArthur station at 9:36 p.m. last July 22.
He’s also charged with a special circumstance allegation that he killed Wilson while lying in wait, an allegation that could result in the death penalty or life in prison without parole if he’s convicted.
Cowell, who’s being held at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin without bail, is scheduled to return to court on Aug. 2 to enter a plea. A trial date will be set later.
A trial on Cowell’s mental competency had been scheduled to begin on July 29 but that has now been canceled.
Cowell’s attorney Christina Moore said in a statement that Cramer’s ruling “means that today the court has found that John Cowell is mentally well enough for the case to proceed.”
But she said, “No ruling has been made about what John’s mental state was at the time of the alleged offense. That is a separate, distinct question.”
Moore said, “We all know that mental illness changes over time.
How someone’s illness presents today is not necessarily how it will present tomorrow.”
An argument can be made that anyone who murders, rapes, assaults, etc…another person must be mentally ill. That, however, should not prevent us from ensuring that the perpetrator is confined in a hospital or prison for a very long time.
Agreed
If you are smart enough to get up and dressed in the morning you are sane enough. If you put your shoes on the wrong feet you may have a case.
Mental state or not, life w/o parole. Let the prison hordes have at him.
“mental competency” or insanity should be irrelevant at the time of a trial. The trial asks if they did the crime. The competency aspect would come into play at sentencing.Then send them to jail or an institution.
Exactly my thoughts.
Defendants must to be able to understand what is going on during their trials. If they aren’t competent enough to know what’s happening they can’t defend themselves, so it can’t be a “fair trial”, just a waste of time and resources and grounds for appeal.
Awesome….burn that son of a b#$&ch.
Firing squad, now!! Forget the trial….waste of tax payer money.
I know his guy since he was 6-7 years old, him and my son were best friends. He has always been mentally challenged, so is his mother. I’m not excusing what he’s does cuz that is totally wrong, but that’s what mental people do!? Prayers go out too both families, AMEN
What do you mean by mentally challenged? Did he get through school? Did he hurt other people? Did he have friends? Or was he just a slow learner?
I mean this guy is a real piece of sh*t, but since when does one finding of incompetent and one of “unable to arrive at a conclusion” = competent to stand trial?
Would be interested in hearing about past crimes committed in relation to soft on crime events such as Prop 47, AB-109 and others.
Had liberal soft on crime events not taken place would he have been incarcerated and unable to commit murder ?
I wonder if this was a white female that was bludgeoned by a black would all this publicity would be engendered?? Mental competency test would be questionable!
Let hear it from the woodwork that race should not be an issue(??)!! BS!
Lots of comments from people who don’t know and never knew this person. I did and he was hearing voices long ago when he was in an out of jail constantly. Blame the system for letting him out without bothering to do anything about his mental health.
Always blame the system how about the parents that created this monster? They knew him best. Shouldn’t they have kept him locked up somewhere?