It took a Douglas County jury 30 minutes Wednesday to determine a 16-year-old is competent to stand trial in the sword-stabbing death of his great-grandmother.
After Gevin Prince’s first competency trial ended with a jury deadlocked at 11-1, a second trial lasted a day and a half before the jury began deliberations, a spokesman for the Douglas County district attorney said Wednesday afternoon.
Prince remains jailed on malice murder and aggravated assault charges for allegedly killing Mary Joan Gibbs, 77, and seriously injuring his grandmother, Laura Prince, on Aug. 15, 2011. The incident allegedly began over the teenager not being allowed to use the computer, Laura Prince told police.
When deputies arrived at the Spring Ridge Drive home that day, Gevin Prince was outside, holding both a sword and a loaded BB gun, investigators with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office have said. Prince fired several shots from the gun at deputies and struck patrol cars before he was eventually Tasered and taken into custody after about a 10-minute standoff, some of which was captured on a deputy’s dashboard camera.
Laura Prince previously told the AJC she had reared Gevin and had tried to seek help for his mental problems. Gevin suffers from Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism, and the older he got, the more he “acted out” physically, eventually prompting 911 calls to county authorities, she said.
A trial date for Gevin Prince has not been set.
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