The man who shot 10 people to death and wounded 13 others at a Houston-area high school in 2018 will remain committed to a state-run mental health institution for up to 12 more months, further delaying a trial as the mass shooting's five-year anniversary approaches.
A judge in Galveston County on Wednesday ordered that Dimitrios Pagourtzis, 22, who was a student at Santa Fe High School at the time of the shooting there on May 18, 2018, remains incompetent to stand trial and will spend up to another year at North Texas State Hospital in Vernon. Pagourtzis, who is charged with capital murder of multiple persons as well as aggravated assault of a public servant, was initially committed to the state hospital for restorative treatment in November 2019 and has now been recommitted four times by Texas' 122nd District Court, where judges John A. Ellisor and Jeth Jones have presided during that time.
"I think a couple dozen various doctors at North Texas State Hospital have worked with him, evaluating him, putting him through various treatments – pharmaceutical, therapeutic, you name it – and just have not been able to get him back to competency," said Nick Poehl, Pagourtzis' defense attorney. "... He lives in a reality that is substantially different than our own."
There is no statutory limit in this case on how many times Pagourtzis can be recommitted or how much time passes before he stands trial, according to Poehl, who said his client's mental condition has deteriorated during the time he has been hospitalized. And some details surrounding the shooting have been kept from the public and even the families of the victims who died – eight students and two school employees – so as not to influence potential jurors and help ensure a fair trial.
Ellisor, who retired at the end of 2022, previously ruled that Pagourtzis' trial should be held in Fort Bend County instead of Galveston County because of the widespread publicity the case already has received.
A judge in Galveston County on Wednesday ordered that Dimitrios Pagourtzis, 22, who was a student at Santa Fe High School at the time of the shooting there on May 18, 2018, remains incompetent to stand trial and will spend up to another year at North Texas State Hospital in Vernon. Pagourtzis, who is charged with capital murder of multiple persons as well as aggravated assault of a public servant, was initially committed to the state hospital for restorative treatment in November 2019 and has now been recommitted four times by Texas' 122nd District Court, where judges John A. Ellisor and Jeth Jones have presided during that time.
"I think a couple dozen various doctors at North Texas State Hospital have worked with him, evaluating him, putting him through various treatments – pharmaceutical, therapeutic, you name it – and just have not been able to get him back to competency," said Nick Poehl, Pagourtzis' defense attorney. "... He lives in a reality that is substantially different than our own."
There is no statutory limit in this case on how many times Pagourtzis can be recommitted or how much time passes before he stands trial, according to Poehl, who said his client's mental condition has deteriorated during the time he has been hospitalized. And some details surrounding the shooting have been kept from the public and even the families of the victims who died – eight students and two school employees – so as not to influence potential jurors and help ensure a fair trial.
Ellisor, who retired at the end of 2022, previously ruled that Pagourtzis' trial should be held in Fort Bend County instead of Galveston County because of the widespread publicity the case already has received.
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