SAN ANTONIO – Attorneys for so-called Killer Nurse Genene Jones on Monday pulled a surprise in court when they withdrew their request for a competency trial.
During a brief hearing, Jones' defense team formally withdrew its request for a jury to decide whether the defendant is competent to be tried on charges that she killed five infants in San Antonio-area hospitals in the mid-1980s.
"Our position is that whatever the court sets for the trial, we will be ready to try this case," defense attorney Cornelius Cox said.
Judge Frank Castro set a November deadline for pretrial motions to be filed and said that a trial date will probably be in early January.
More Genene Jones coverage on KSAT.com:
Judge denies convicted killer Genene Jones' request to have seized items returned
'Killer Nurse' Genene Jones deemed competent to stand trial
Judge orders mental exam for 'Killer Nurse' Genene Jones
Jones served a life sentence for killing a Kerrville child by injecting her with a lethal dose of a muscle relaxant in 1984.
Before Jones was released from prison, she was indicted in the five new cases.
"We have five indicted cases against her, and we'll try them one at a time until we reach the end result that the families deserve," said Major Crimes Chief Catherine Babbitt, a top-level prosecutor in the office of Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales.
"We have been working steadily and diligently since Joe took office in January, so we'll be ready," Babbitt said.
Jones remains in the Bexar County Jail in lieu of $1 million in each of the cases.