State requests second psychiatric exam for man indicted in West 7th killing of TCU student
The Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office has requested that a judge order a second competency evaluation of the man indicted on murder in the September killing of a TCU student in the West Seventh entertainment district in Fort Worth.
Matthew Purdy was in November interviewed by a clinical psychologist under an order sought by the defense in a motion that suggested that Purdy may be incompetent to stand trial in the shooting death of Wes Smith.
It is not clear whether the psychologist, Barry Norman, formed an opinion on whether Purdy, who is 21, is competent to stand trial. Competency reports are often filed under seal.
It was not clear from the district clerk’s record in the case whether state District Judge Ruben Gonzalez has ordered the second examination, sought by the state on Monday.
Defense attorney David Owens wrote in the motion seeking the first psychological exam that it was his “belief that this client does not have the sufficient present ability to consult with counsel with a reasonable degree of rational understanding nor a rational factual understanding of the proceedings against the client.”
Purdy told police he approached Smith, whom he did not know, outside a bar early on Sept. 1. He did not give homicide detectives a clear reason why he shot Smith, a 21-year-old junior from Germantown, Tennessee.
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Purdy told the detectives he shot Smith in the stomach and shoulder, then in the back of the head when Smith fell to the ground. Purdy told detectives he wanted to “make sure he was dead,” according to an affidavit supporting the suspect’s arrest.
Purdy told the detectives that before he opened fire, he asked Smith if he knew Purdy’s father, who he said had been assaulted previously near West Seventh Street.
Purdy also struck a witness in the back of the head with a gun before running from the scene. Police found him in a Farrington Field parking lot.
