The Brief
- About a dozen defendants were restored to competency within months and released back into the community.
- Nathan Britton and Zachary Bell were both charged with violent felonies before being restored to competency.
- Bell is now back in jail, while Britton remains free on a PR bond.
HOUSTON – Since the beginning of this year, we’ve found about a dozen defendants who spent about six months in a state mental hospital, were deemed competent to stand trial and were released on an unsuspecting public.
That includes 25-year-old Nathan Britton and 35-year-old Zachary Bell.
“Both were charged with violent felonies, both were declared incompetent, both were restored to competency within six months and both of them committed new felonies,” said Andy Kahan with Crime Stoppers.
Zachary Bell
Bell has 18 felony convictions since 2011, seven felony convictions since last year. His PR bond was revoked and he remains behind bars.
Nathan Britton
Meanwhile, Nathan Britton remains free on a PR bond. He’s accused of beating a hospital employee. Court documents state in March of this year Britton was declared incompetent to stand trial for the second time and unlikely to restore.
‘We’re seeing it repeatedly’
What they’re saying:…