{"id":480862,"date":"2026-10-30T00:08:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T00:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/480862\/"},"modified":"2026-10-30T00:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T00:08:10","slug":"shane-james-trial-opening-arguments-begin-for-man-accused-of-killing-6-injuring-3-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/480862\/","title":{"rendered":"Shane James trial: Opening arguments begin for man accused of killing 6, injuring 3 others"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Shane \"Shane Shane James trial: Opening arguments begin<\/a> <\/p>\n

Opening arguments started the trial for Shane James, Jr., the man accused of murdering six people and wounding three others. His attorneys plan to use the insanity defense, arguing there were “laser masters” in his mind.<\/p>\n

AUSTIN, Texas – Opening arguments started the trial for Shane James, Jr., the man accused of murdering six people and wounding three others.<\/p>\n

His attorneys plan to use the insanity defense, arguing there were “laser masters” in his mind.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Texas shooting spree: What happened? <\/p>\n

The backstory:<\/p>\n

The shooting spree happened on Dec. 5, 2023. He’s accused of killing his parents in San Antonio before coming to Austin. Police say James shot and injured an Austin ISD officer before killing four more people and injuring two others.<\/p>\n

James has pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n

\"PREVIOUS \"PREVIOUS Opening arguments begin <\/p>\n

What they’re saying:<\/p>\n

Thursday morning’s trial proceedings focused on the first scene at Northeast Early College High School.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Prosecutors argue that James knew what he was doing throughout the shooting spree. They plan to call 35 witnesses throughout the trial.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“An expert witness will get up there and tell you that when this defendant, Shane James, killed those four people, he was sane at the time, he knew it wasn’t legal, and he knew what he was doing was wrong,” prosecutor Rickey Jones said during opening arguments.<\/p>\n

\"PREVIOUS \"PREVIOUS <\/p>\n

The other side:<\/p>\n

The defense shared some details about James. He has a degree in philosophy and was in the Army. The onset of schizophrenia showed up over time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He had three emergency detentions in four years before the shooting spree.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The defense pointed to rambling journal pages to illustrate his delusions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“He doesn’t know what is right, he doesn’t know what is wrong, due to these delusions. The delusions being the laser masters controlling him and telling him what’s going on and what to do,” defense attorney Michael Watson said during opening arguments.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Witnesses testify <\/p>\n

Dig deeper:<\/p>\n

In 2024, James was found incompetent to stand trial and was sent to a state mental hospital for treatment. In 2025, his competency was restored.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jurors heard from Sgt. Val Barnes in the morning, the AISD officer who was shot in the leg as he was driving away after spotting James.<\/p>\n

“The glass shattered from the safety glass and cut my face. I could feel the blood,” Barnes said.<\/p>\n

Jurors also heard from a student at Northeast Early College High School who saw James and heard gunshots.<\/p>\n

Two specialists in forensics testified on the shell casings and bullet holes in the AISD vehicle.<\/p>\n

An officer who was tasked with finding the Nissan Versa James was originally in testified.<\/p>\n

A land surveyor who witnessed the Shadywood shooting, a midwife doing a home visit across the street, and an officer who responded to the Shadywood scene all testified as well. Jurors saw body camera footage from the officer, which showed both victims with blood all over them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Source: Information from prosecutor Rickey Jones, defense attorney Michael Watson, several witnesses, previous coverage and reporting by FOX 7 Austin’s Angela Shen<\/p>\n

Austin<\/a>Crime and Public Safety<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shane James trial: Opening arguments begin Opening arguments started the trial for Shane James, Jr., the man accused…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480863,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,1046,223,394,216,393],"class_list":["post-480862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-crime-publicsafety","tag-news","tag-travis-county","tag-tx","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}