TEXARKANA -- Competency continues to be an issue in the case of a man accused of beating a Miller County jailer to death in 2016.
Tramell Mackenzie Hunter, 30, who is accused of killing officer Lisa Mauldin on Dec. 18 that year in the Miller County jail's kitchen, is scheduled for trial Nov. 30 at the county courthouse.
Hunter's lawyer, Ron Davis of Little Rock, recently filed a motion seeking a delay in the case that points to a recent mental evaluation by a defense expert who deemed Hunter isn't fit to proceed to trial. The findings conflict with Hunter's most recent evaluation by a state expert.
In July 2019, officials at the State Hospital concluded that Hunter is competent and may have been faking symptoms of mental illness, according to records. Before that evaluation, Hunter was deemed unfit to proceed to trial following an initial evaluation in early 2017 and subsequent evaluations by state experts.
Davis' motion notes that he is attempting to find a former employee of the hospital who conducted one of the earliest evaluations finding Hunter unfit. The motion notes the psychologist is believed to have moved to California.
Circuit Judge Kirk Johnson has not ruled on Davis' motion to delay the trial.
In addition to competency issues, movement on the case has been slowed by the covid-19 pandemic.
At the time of Mauldin's death, Hunter was serving time for felony convictions originating in Pulaski County and was assigned to the Miller County jail as part of a program meant to provide jails with cheap labor and prison inmates with an opportunity to work and live closer to relatives.
After Mauldin's death, Hunter was returned to a state prison. Because of covid-19, prison officials have restricted visitors from prisons in the state and the policy made it impossible for Hunter's evaluation by the defense expert to take place in a prison setting. The defense evaluation was recently conducted at the Miller County courthouse.
Davis previously turned down an offer from the state for Hunter to plead guilty, accept a sentence of life without parole and avoid a possible death sentence.
Hunter is accused of attacking Mauldin after a short verbal exchange. In addition to capital murder, Hunter faces a charge of battery of a peace officer for allegedly assaulting a second female officer, Damaris Allen, who walked into the kitchen after Mauldin was attacked.
If convicted of capital murder, Hunter faces the death penalty or life without possibility of parole.