Mental exam ordered for school shooting suspect in Jacksboro
Special Juvenile Court Judge Michael Davis said he wanted the exam performed before deciding whether Kenneth Bartley should be tried as an adult.
“That is standard procedure,” District Attorney Paul Phillips said. “There is always a mental evaluation in a case where the state is trying to transfer a juvenile (into criminal court).”
Davis, who was brought in from Morgan County because local judges knew the victims’ families, set a Jan. 31 court date to hear arguments on the transfer.
The 10-minute hearing Wednesday was Bartley’s first since the Nov. 8 shooting at Campbell County Comprehensive High School.
Police say Principal Gary Seale and Assistant Principals Ken Bruce and Jim Pierce called Bartley into an office to question him about a tip that he had brought a pistol to school. All three were shot before the .22-caliber handgun could be wrestled away from Bartley, authorities say.
Bruce, 48, died within hours. His widow, Jo Bruce, was among those in attendance Wednesday. Seale, 55, was released from University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville on Wednesday. Pierce, 56, remained in stable condition at UT, hospital officials said.
The mental evaluation should show “whether he is committable to a mental institution, whether he is competent to stand trial or whether he was sane at the time of the crime,” said Phillips, who wants to try Bartley for first-degree murder and other unspecified charges.
Bartley’s lawyer, Mike Hatmaker, refused comment as he left the courthouse.
Sheriff Ron McClellan said the investigation is continuing, more interviews were being conducted and evidence collected, including Bartley’s home computer.
Asked if a motive has been determined, the sheriff said, “We are getting more details as we go, but we couldn’t release anything on that because of the pending case.”
Meanwhile, McClellan said his department also is investigating a break-in at Pierce’s home the night of the shooting. An all-terrain vehicle, air compressor and tools reportedly were taken.
Bartley had been in and out of trouble while in middle school and had spent about a year and a half in a residential juvenile treatment program in Bean Station before his parents brought him home last spring.
From the courthouse Wednesday, Bartley was taken to a local hospital to remove eight stitches from his hand, wounded when his gun discharged. He was being returned to a juvenile detention facility in Knoxville.