OAKLAND — A judge on Friday again postponed a hearing until March 15 regarding the mental competency of the man accused of fatally stabbing Nia Wilson at a BART station.
John Lee Cowell, 27, is accused of killing Wilson, 18, in the throat July 22 at the MacArthur BART station platform and attempting to kill her sister. Authorities say Cowell then wiped and dumped the weapon in a construction yard near the station.
In what was supposed to be a mental competency hearing — which was postponed from March 1 — Cowell’s attorney, Christina Moore, told Judge James Cramer that the second doctor that was assigned to evaluate Cowell could not reach a conclusion on Cowell’s mental fitness.
At an earlier court hearing, the first court-appointed doctor found Cowell incompetent.
Moore asked the judge to base Cowell’s mental competency on the single doctor’s report and to set a hearing date.
Cramer, however, postponed a decision until March 15 and ordered the reports by the psychiatrists sealed. A third doctor may be assigned to evaluate Cowell.
After the postponement, both Wilson’s mother and father expressed frustration with the delays in brief statements to the media outside the courtroom.
“It’s irritating, but you know, I got to do what I got to do,” said Alicia Grayson, mother of Nia Wilson.
“I think that the only problem that Mr. Cowell has is being a coward and a racist because when you’re crazy, you don’t pick and choose color,” said Wilson’s father, Ansar Mohammed, referring to the fact that Cowell is white and Wilson, an African-American.
On Dec. 28, Cramer suspended criminal proceedings in the Wilson case after Moore questioned Cowell’s mental health.
In mid-December, Moore said she doubted her client’s mental competency to help her in the trial, saying that he exhibited signs of extreme delusion and paranoia. On Dec. 28, Moore cited multiple instances where law enforcement took Cowell into an involuntary psychiatric hold — 22 times from 2012 to his arrest in July.
Judge Cramer found there was sufficient evidence from Moore’s statements and declaration she filed with the court to suspend criminal proceedings.