SANTA FE, Texas — Five years later, there's still no trial date set for the accused Santa Fe High School shooter, Dimitrios Pagourtzis.
The case is at a standstill, waiting on the accused shooter’s competency to be restored. It’s a process that KHOU 11 News learned could continue for the rest of his life if necessary, frustrating victims.
The accused shooter was a 17-year-old junior at the time and was arrested the day of the shooting. Right now, at the North Texas State Hospital, declared mentally incompetent to stand trial.
“There's been progress since he first got there. I will say that the last the last few, the last year or two, that progress just it stalled, it plateaued," said Nicholas Poehl, his defense attorney. “He can seem to be having a sort of normal conversation and then the conversation just goes off the rails into bizarre hallucination paced fantasy."
Poehl told KHOU 11 News his client was having those hallucinations the day of the shooting. He also added that in the years leading up to the tragedy, the teen was not medicated and not receiving treatment for mental health.
“As he got more ill, his symptoms looked a lot to an outside observer as teenage behavior, mood swings and such that you ride off as teenager – and it’s how a lot of red flags were missed," said Poehl.
Now, every 12 months he’s evaluated for mental competency to stand trial.
“It’s important to note that the issue of competency is different than the issue of sanity, the issue of competency is whether the defendant can understand the proceedings against him and whether he is able to assist his lawyers in his defense," said Jack Roady, Galveston County District Attorney.
Although it’s rare, Roady says there have been other cases in Texas that have had competency restored after years and he’s not giving up.
“I would want our community and our victims to know we are committed now as we ever have been to get this case tried and to see justice done," said Roady.
On May 16, the new judge on the case, Lonnie Cox, signed an order committing him to the state hospital until February 1, 2024. It was the same order Judge Jeth Jones had signed before he was removed from the case.