Homeless Man Accused of Assault Found Not Guilty by Insanity

LONGVIEW — A homeless man accused of assaulting another man in Longview last summer was found legally insane Monday and ordered into a state mental hospital for a 30-day evaluation. KETK and the Longview News-Journal report Lacorian Davis, 24, was accused in a July 2 aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The attack, in the parking lot of Super 1 grocery, sent a man to the hospital for at least one night. Davis’s trial on the second-degree felony was to begin Monday but was completed instead at a hearing at which 124th District Judge Alfonso Charles reviewed a psychiatric evaluation of Davis by Dr. Thomas Allen. “At the time of this offense, the defendant was legally insane,” Charles said from the bench. “Therefore, the court finds this defendant not guilty of this offense by reason of insanity.”

Charles ordered Davis, who has been held under bonds totaling $9,000 since the day of the assault, taken to the North Texas State Hospital’s maximum security unit for a minimum of 30 days. “At that time, the court will be notified of any further treatment or placements by the state,” Charles said. The judge said options for Davis after his initial month at the hospital near Wichita Falls include more in-patient treatment, institutionalization, out-patient or day-patient status. Davis had been facing from two to 20 years in prison, plus a fine of up to $10,000, if convicted of the assault.