Suspect in stabbings near UNLV to receive mental health evaluation
The 33-year-old suspect in a series of stabbings near UNLV will receive a mental health evaluation, court records show.
A competency hearing for Christopher Martell is scheduled for Nov. 4 in District Court, according to online court records. During a mental health evaluation, a doctor will determine whether Martell is competent to face murder and attempted murder charges.
A preliminary hearing scheduled for Wednesday was canceled pending the competency hearing.
Martell has been charged with two counts of murder with a deadly weapon and two counts of attempted murder with a deadly weapon. He is accused of stabbing four homeless people, including two who died in the attacks surrounding the university.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges during a court hearing on Sept. 29.
Jody Devries, 57, was found dead with multiple stab wounds on Sept. 14 near a church east of Maryland Parkway and Harmon Avenue, according to the Clark County coroner’s office. Six days later, Mary Susan Miller, 74, was found dead from multiple stab wounds near East Flamingo Road and Algonquin Drive.
Martell was arrested Sept. 21 after police found him at the scene of another stabbing that left a man and woman in critical condition on the 2000 block of East Flamingo Road, Las Vegas police have said.
He remained in the Clark County Detention Center on Wednesday without bail, jail records showed.
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.