Mental exam ordered for murder defendant

FORT SMITH — A mental examination has been ordered for a Fort Smith man charged with capital murder in the shooting death of his former father-in-law.

Michael Ray Underwood is charged in the June 2013 shooting death of 63-year-old Michael Allen Shook. Police say Shook was found dead in a bedroom of his home and Underwood was found in a chair with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in his head.

The Southwest Times reported that Sebastian County Circuit Court Judge James Cox ordered the mental exam at the request of prosecutors. Prosecutors asked for the exam after defense attorneys presented psychiatric and neuropsychological evaluations, including one that said Underwood is not and never will be competent to stand trial.

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