Shane James Trial: Prosecutors Begin Their Rebuttal Monday After the Defense Rested on One Psychologist
The defense in the Austin capital murder trial called a single witness — a forensic psychologist who testified Shane James was insane at every shooting scene. On Monday the prosecution gets its answer in, in the trial's decisive phase.
AUSTIN — The capital murder trial of Shane James entered its decisive phase on Monday, as prosecutors were set to begin their rebuttal case in a Travis County courtroom, according to FOX 7 Austin's trial coverage. The rebuttal answers a defense case that rested on exactly one witness.
That witness, forensic psychologist Dr. Mollimichelle McClendon, testified that she saw James a dozen times and described what she called the most complicated delusional belief system she has ever encountered. She told jurors she believes he was insane at every shooting scene — the heart of the defense argument that James, accused of killing six people and injuring three others on December 5, 2023, is not guilty by reason of insanity.
The killings began in Bexar County, where police say James killed his parents, and continued across Austin: an Austin ISD officer shot at Northeast Early College High School, two people killed on Shadywood Drive, a cyclist shot near Slaughter Lane, and a mother and daughter killed on Austral Loop, where a responding officer was also shot, according to the trial testimony recapped by FOX 7. Jurors have seen the interrogation video from that night, jail mail, and journal pages going back years.
The road to this courtroom was long: James was found incompetent to stand trial in 2024, restored to competency after treatment at a state hospital, and found competent again by a separate jury before this trial opened, Texas Today reported. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty. What the rebuttal witnesses say about James's state of mind — the only question the insanity defense really asks — is now the testimony the verdict will turn on.
