A 26-year-old Colorado man arrested in May after a foiled carjacking in downtown Lubbock now faces state charges.
Meanwhile, the attorney representing Isaiah Houstonof Colorado Springs, Colorado, has indicated that he believes his client was insane at the time.
A Lubbock County grand jury on Tuesday returned indictments against Houston charging him with counts of aggravated robbery, tampering with evidence with intent to impair an investigation and evading arrest and detention.
A federal grand jury in June returned indictmentscharging him with counts of carjacking and attempted carjacking.
Responding to a carjacking in downtown Lubbock
His charges stem from a local and federal investigation that began on May 29 after Lubbock police received reports of a shooting near the Citibus Downtown station.
At the scene, an FBI agent saw multiple Lubbock police officers treating a man suffering from a gunshot wound to his right leg.
The injured man, later identified as Houston, was believed to be the knife-wielding suspect who pulled out a woman holding a newborn child from an SUV parked in the 800 block of Broadway.
Multiple witnesses who were in the nearby federal building told the FBI agent that they heard a woman screaming just north of the building and looked outside to see a man with dreadlocks running from security guards and police in front of the Lubbock County Courthouse.
The agent found video from the federal building and the Lubbock County courthouse that captured the incident.
The video showed a man, believed to be Houston, first approach a box truck stopped northbound at a red light at the intersection of Buddy Holly Avenue and Broadway.
Houston could reportedly be seen trying to open the box truck's driver's side door.
However, the driver pushed Houston away from the vehicle and closed the door.
Houston could reportedly be seen running northwest to a black SUV parked westbound on Broadway between the county courthouse and the federal building.
The video appeared to depict Houston pulling out a knife as he approached the SUV. Then, Houston could reportedly be seen opening the driver's side door and pulling out a woman in a red shirt, who was holding a newborn baby.
The woman reportedly told the agent she was startled by Houston and complied with his demands.
Meanwhile, a nearby security guard and an off-duty Lubbock police officer ran toward the commotion and Houston could reportedly be seen exiting the SUV and running away as the officer and security guard chased after him.
During the chase, Houston could reportedly be seen on video jumping on the bed of a pickup truck traveling southbound in the 1100 block of Buddy Holly Avenue next to the downtown bus station.
However, a Citibus security guard at the station saw Houston still holding the knife and shot at him twice, hitting him once in the leg.
Lubbock police officials said Houston posed a threat to the LPD officer, the woman and the security guard at the time of the shooting.
Houston continued to run to the bus station where he tried to hide his knife in the ventilation grate of a parked bus.
He was ultimately apprehended. A pat-down search yielded a vape cartridge that investigators believe contained 8 grams of THC oil.
An inventory search of his backpack also yielded about .04 ounces of suspected marijuana contained in a small tray with a magnetic cover.
He was arrested and taken to University Medical Center for treatment and later booked into the Lubbock County Detention Center on multiple state charges including aggravated robbery, possession of less than 2 ounces of marijuana and possession of 4 to 400 grams of penalty grade 2 controlled substance.
Houston's defense attorney proposes raising insanity defense
Federal court records show Houston's attorney, Michael King, filed a motion asking the court to put his client through a psychological or psychiatric evaluation. King's motion states he believes Houston was suffering from a mental disorder or defect that rendered him mentally incompetent to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against him or to assist in his defense.
Additionally, King informed the court that should the case go to trial, he planned to raise and insanity defense, which essentially convincing a jury that Houston was under the influence of a severe mental illness at the time of the offense that he was unable to understand that what he was doing was wrong.
The documents did not disclose the details of the mental illness or defect Houston may be suffering.
The court granted the motion on July 7, ordering Houston to be committed to a facility for examination to determine whether the defendant was legally insane at the time of the commission of the alleged offense and whether he is competent to stand trial.
Court records do not show to which facility he was assigned nor the results of the examination if it has been completed.
Gabriel Monte is the criminal justice reporter for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal in Texas. Have a news tip for him? Email him at gmonte@lubbockonline.com.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Insanity defense raised in downtown Lubbock carjacking case
