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Competent to stand trial for murder. legal panel is here, a federal prosecutor, diane bass is a criminal defense attorney. competency is that you understand the charges against you, you can assist in your defense if the answer to those questions is yes, you are competent to here. there is a bit of a twist. he is refusing to assist in his defense. that still doesn't render him incompetent, does it? >> no, not at all. you hit the nail on the head. as long as he can understand what is going on and assist his council that is all it takes. if you is dumb enough or stupid enough not to listen to his...

Pulled the trigger. he's in custody, bob. but let me ask you this, it seems like the girlfriend was upset that her boyfriend had a new girlfriend in the dentist. crime of passion or is it? >> no. this is not going to be legally considered a crime of passion. when i would investigate a homicide case, love, jealousy, you know, you're right there for motive. you look for the motives first. what you have is so many factors that show this was not done spontaneously in the heat of the moment. you have planning, preparation, opportunities, soliciting other people. there was plenty of time under the l...

The deputy was pumping gas was miles allegedly approached from behind and shot at him 15 times emptying his gun into the officer. joey jackson joins me. joey, the new information we're getting today is this history of if not mental illness, mental evaluation. he was being evaluated for a period of time in 2012. the direct impact that this has on this capital murder case is what? >> well, it affects it in a number of ways. the first thing is this is a capital case and capital cases which equal intentional murder plus an aggravating factor which is that this was a peace officer would make you el...

Would be a capital case. so you were saying basically, you know, as these three are trying to evade capture, they have nothing to lose. reportedly they took the gun from this dead officer and ran and your thought was, they could have taken his radio as well. and by taking his radio, they would have access to the rest of law enforcement trying to hunt them down. >> that's right. the officers, when they established their command and control center really have to move to the discreet or encrypted frequency in order to communicate with everyone else right now. without doing that the assailants cou...

Tv. many here today as they come and pay their respects are trying to make sense of this senseless tragedy. luke? >> tough thing to do. adam, thanks so much for your report. we appreciate it. the man charged with shooting a ten-year veteran of the harris county sheriff's office in texas is held on capital murder charges after appearing in court today. the d.a. says 30-year-old shannon miles shot darren goforth 15 times in the head. and back. nbc's jamie novogrod on the ground in houston. what happens next in this case? >> reporter: well, luke, legal experts here in texas say a grand jury wil...