BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) -Larry Bollin, the Iola man accused of committing last April’s mass shooting at Kent Moore Cabinets in Bryan, was scheduled to have his day in court Monday but the trial was postponed.
Bollin was scheduled to appear in the 85th district court in Brazos County where he is charged with (1) count of Murder, (5) counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and (1) charge of attempt to commit capital murder of multiple persons.
According to court documents, in April, Bollin’s court-appointed defense team led by Attorney Craig Greaves filed a motion for an appointment for a mental health exam & order. In May, they later filed a motion for the appointment of a mental health expert for the case and psychological exam.
Judge Kyle Hawthorne granted the motion allowing Bollin to take a psychological exam in May.
The court received the results of that exam on Friday, July 8 and Monday’s preferential jury trial was canceled.
Despite Monday’s postponement, KBTX legal analyst Shane Phelps says the timing of the trial is ahead of schedule and serious cases like this usually take longer to get to trial.
Phelps says when it comes to trials, especially murder trials, the Texas court system takes mental health competency seriously. To determine competency, a judge weighs evidence including the psychiatrist’s or mental health expert’s reports then rules whether a defendant understands the trial and the charges he or she faces. He says Monday’s postponement is no surprise.
When there are cases that involve mental health issues like this and an examination for competency has been requested it is not uncommon for a case to be put off pending the results of that examination,” said Phelps. ” No judge wants to go to trial where this is an issue of competency that has not been settled.”
Phelps says the next steps of the judicial process depend on the results of the mental health evaluation.
“That process can take 60-90 days,” said Phelps. “At the end of that process, the doctors at the mental health or psychiatric facility will either render an opinion that because we treated him successfully he has regained competency and he can now stand trial, or he has not gained competency and he’s not likely to ever gain the competency.”
It’s still unclear at the moment what the results of that mental health evaluation are and when the trial could resume.
Bollin is also facing charges in Grimes County for the shooting of a state trooper who tried to apprehend him after fleeing the scene of the shooting in Bryan.
We reached out to the district attorney and the defense team for Bollin but neither would speak to us on camera about the trial.
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