SAN ANTONIO – A judge Thursday granted a competency evaluation for a 42-year-old man charged with capital murder in the stomping death of his cellmate.
Defense attorney Cleophus Marshall told Judge Andrew Carruthers that he was having difficulty communicating with his client, Shandrick Buckley. Marshall also told Carruthers that he was not sure
whether Buckley understood the gravity of the situation.
On May 30, Bexar County sheriff's deputies found Alexander Wise bleeding profusely and unconscious in a cell he was sharing with Buckley at the Bexar County Jail, officials said.
According to the Bexar County Sheriff's Office, the men were sharing the cell after the two of them had been earlier involved in separate altercations in the jail and were on what the office called "Emergency Management Intensive Supervision."
During a brief court appearance by Buckley, Marshall raised concerns over racial implications in the slaying.
Buckley is African American and Wise was a former member of the Aryan Brotherhood, BCSO officials said.
Marshall said the fact that the men shared a cell was a concern to him.
"It should concern anyone with any level of reasonable apprehension of sensibility," Marshall said. "We don't know what, if any, (racial implications) had to play in the incident that allegedly took place, but, you know, that's what trials are for."
The Texas Rangers are investigating Wise's death.