BY Delores L. Walker, Special to the News

Assistant State Attorney David Fina said Marcus Jones, 53, of Hatch Bend was declared incompetent to stand trial by Lafayette County Judge Harlow H. Land, Jr. Sept. 13.



Judge Land’s ruling followed the competency hearing conducted to determine Jones’s mental ability to comprehend the first degree murder charge filed against him for the shooting death of his mother, Gladys Jerrells Goodson on Aug. 3, 2004.



Lafayette County Jail records show that Jones was moved to the State Hospital on Sept. 21. He had been held in closed custody at Lafayette County Detention Center since his arrest on Aug. 3 by Lafayette County Sheriff Carson Mccall and Sgt. John Young.



Fina said Jones is undergoing rehabilitation at the state facility and will be re-evaluated during a two-year period to determine his ability to answer the first degree murder indictment he is charged with.