SAN ANTONIO – Before a jury’s decision that Mark Anthony Gonzalez be executed for the slaying of a Bexar County sheriff’s deputy can be imposed, his competency will be evaluated by another jury.
That is the law.
Magistrate Judge Andrew Carruthers ruled on Friday that the jury evaluating his competency will be allowed to hear at least one conversation Gonzalez had with a friend that he made from jail, during his capital murder trial last fall.
“We got a good jury. It took five weeks to pick this jury,” Gonzalez told a friend during the phone call. “It’s a 50-50 chance, know what I mean?”
Later in the call Gonzalez again tried to reassure his friend.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “We got a 50-50 chance whatever they believe.”
The calls were made last October during Gonzalez’ capital murder trial in which he was found guilty of the ambush style murder of Bexar County Sheriff’s Deputy Kenneth Vann.
The competency trial will resume on Monday when the jury will be allowed to hear that call as well as testimony from a forensic psychiatrist that prosecutors plan to call to testify.