Judge says Mississippi man competent to face murder charges

Published 6:12 pm Saturday, July 27, 2019

A Mississippi man charged with capital murder in the shooting death at a Walmart has been ruled mentally competent to stand trial.

The Starkville Daily News reports an evaluation found that Tommy Chisholm’s ability to know right from wrong was not impeded by mental disease when he shot optometrist Shauna Witt in 2018 at her office inside the Starkville Walmart.

Oktibbeha County Circuit Judge Lee Howard says Chisholm, of Kosciusko, is competent to stand trial and says a trial date will be set.

Subscribe to our free email newsletter

Get the latest news sent to your inbox

However, the judge notes Chisholm’s public defender is requesting additional psychological evaluations ahead of trial.

Chisholm and Witt had previously dated.
Chisholm also faces aggravated assault charges because a female bystander had a bullet pierce her jacket.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges in July 2018.