Ex-Cowboy Underwood incompetent for trial
Posted on 02/07/2003 2:01:52 AM PST by MeekOneGOP
Ex-Cowboy Underwood incompetent for trial
02/07/2003
Former Cowboy Dimitrius Underwood, who was arrested on charges of robbing a paraplegic and assaulting an Irving police officer late last year, was deemed incompetent to stand trial Thursday by a jury.
Underwood, 25, will be transferred from the Lew Sterrett Justice Center to the North Texas State Hospital in Vernon, where he will remain for up to 120 days for treatment of bipolar disorder, said Price Stone, his attorney.
Magistrate Stephen Halsey ordered the confinement after jurors found that Underwood was unfit to stand trial because of his illness, Stone said.
The Dallas County jury made its decision after it heard from a psychiatrist who had evaluated Underwood weekly since he was arrested Nov. 4.
According to his defense attorney, Underwood is accused of robbing a paraplegic motorist and assaulting an Irving police officer.
Stone said the incident started when his client, thinking he was a police officer, begin directing traffic at an intersection. A paraplegic motorist "took umbrage with his slowing down traffic. ... He assumed ... [Underwood] was a panhandler and offered him a $5 bill. Dimitrius took this as a bribe and became enraged."
When Irving officers responded, Underwood was "totally out of control" and began to struggle, Stone said. He was arrested and taken to the county jail, Stone said.
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