Mental evaluation sought in Memorial Middle School shooter case

Brett Meeker, public defender for Memorial Middle School shooter Thomas Gregory White, asked for a mental evaluation for her client during a hearing Friday in Jasper County Circuit Court.
Judge David Mouton also set tentative trial dates in December and January:

Meeker submitted reports to the judge from a doctor and psychologist who have recently examined White. She is asking that he be transferred to the Western Missouri Mental Health Center in Kansas City for an evaluation on the question of competency to assist in his own defense.

Meeker said after the hearing that, in her opinion, her client’s mental clarity has deteriorated during the course of his incarceration.

“I have concerns about that,” Meeker said. “But, I’ll leave it up to the medical experts whether or not he meets the statutory requirements for assisting in his own defense.”

The defendant’s mother, Norma White, said after the hearing that she supports the request for a mental-health evaluation of her son.

White, 15, was 13 and a seventh grader at Memorial Middle School in October 2006 when he took an assault rifle into the school, fired it into the ceiling, then aimed the weapon at Principal Steve Gilbreth and attempted to shoot again, but the weapon jammed, according to authorities.

He is charged with two counts of assault, and single counts of unlawful use of a weapon, armed criminal action, and attempted escape.