A Concord man pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity on Friday to a murder charge for the fatal stabbing of 18-year-old Nia Wilson at the MacArthur BART station in Oakland last year.
Acting against the advice of his attorney, John Lee Cowell, 29, also asked for a speedy trial, so Alameda County Superior Court Judge Kevin Murphy set a Jan. 6 trial date for him.
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. on July 22, 2018.
Cowell also is charged with a special circumstance allegation that he killed Wilson while lying in wait, a charge that could have resulted in the death penalty if he’s convicted in a criminal trial.
However, prosecutors said in August that they won’t seek the death penalty against Cowell and instead will focus on convicting him and having him sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Superior Court Judge James Cramer suspended the criminal proceedings against Cowell last Dec. 27, saying there was “substantial evidence” that he’s mentally incompetent to stand trial.
But at a hearing on July 17 Cramer reinstated the criminal proceedings against Cowell, based in part on a recent doctor’s report that found that Cowell is now competent to stand trial.
At Friday’s hearing Judge Murphy denied a defense motion to dismiss the charges against Cowell.
In addition, because Cowell pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, Murphy will appoint two doctors to evaluate his current mental state.
10 comments
If you get up in the morning and put your own pants on and no one has to feed you breakfast you are sane enough to stand trial. I am tired of every kind of excuse for just about everything.
To my mind all murders are insane at the time they kill. Let’s get rid of this “by reason of insanity” issue.
It’s in the human genome, but expressed differently in different societies, some groups place more value on human life than others..
This is such B.S. people use this line so much that it just piss’s me off own up to what you do.
Weren’t there people who posted here that they grew up with this dude and Yes…..he had mental issues.
Government is too busy getting ALL guns while letting these crazies run free.
This plea is the pits. Either you did it, or you didn’t. If you did, but we’re crazy, fine. Go to get you’re head straight, then serve the rest of your sentence in a regular prison (or death penalty, whichever.)
This is going to be really expensive in so many ways. Perhaps he can’t get a fair trial here. Maybe they can move this case to Texas………A trial there would be fair and somewhat more expeditious.
Johnny has had lots of problems growing up. Never got the help he needed. The Family Ignored His Disability. When he was 18 I new he needed help and said my concerns and I was Ignored .Having a special needs child I new he wasn’t Okay. I believe he needs to be locked up for the rest of his life.He will not get the support he would need if he gets off for Insanity,I do Believe he would be better in a psych word, but not let out even if he does good.He wouldn’t have the right support for his Disability.
Holy goodness! That guy used to wander through Ygnacio Valley Park multiple times a day, smoking cigarettes right in the middle of the playground area with many kids around, talking to himself (curse words and all, quite loudly). When parents would approach him he’d totally lose his mind yelling at them and gesturing aggressively. We’re at that park all the time and it got to the point where I’d gather up the kiddos and move out to the field whenever he walked through as he was clearly unstable and always very scary. Haven’t seen him in like a year and have commented with my spouse multiple times on how peaceful it has been without him coming through. Just wow…
I’m a good friend of John’s father and I also agree that John didn’t get the help that he needed for his mental state and I have had some good and bad run in with John he is not a safe person to be free on the streets but everybody should keep that his mental state is not all his fault and out some of that blame on his family and his family should have put way more effort into John’s mental state
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