Accused Murderer Declared Competent Appears in Court

SAN ANGELO, TX -- District Judge Ben Woodward sat behind the bench in courtroom A Tuesday afternoon with a docket that included 90 pretrial hearings.  The largest courtroom in the Tom Green County Courthouse was packed with inmates from the Tom Green County Jail taking up the back half of the courtroom and defendants out on bond along with family and friends packed in the front pews in the courtroom.  

31-year-old Thomas Gene Riddle was one of the last to appear before the judge.  He sat shackled and separated from the other inmates awaiting his turn. Riddle is charged with murder for bludgeoning his mother’s 58-year-old boyfriend to death. Police identified the deceased as Jerry Don Barr.

Police were dispatched to the Rock Brook Apartments, 3326 Rock Brook Dr., in Southland in March of 2016 concerning an assault. Upon arrival, police found Barr dead with injuries consistent with blunt force trauma. An autopsy was ordered.

Riddle was picked up a while later walking near the Olive Garden Restaurant on the Houston Harte Expressway.  Court documents say Riddle had blood on his clothing and his face.

Police said that Barr’s girlfriend made the 9-1-1 call after arriving at the apartment to find Barr beaten. Police said she told police she saw Riddle walking in the vicinity.

Riddle was declared incompetent to stand trial on Nov. 30. 2016.  He remained in the Tom Green County Jail until July of 2017 when he was transferred to the Vernon State Hospital campus in Kerrville.  He was returned to the Tom Green County Jail on July 20.

On August 10, District Judge Jay Weatherby signed an order declaring Riddle competent to stand trial based upon written testimony from doctors at the State Hospital.  

Judge Weatherby put Riddle’s case back on the docket for a September 17 jury trial.  Riddle’s attorney Brandon Hudson told the court he intended to use the insanity defense.  Weatherby and the attorneys acknowledged that the September jury trial date was not likely to happen because of the required pretrial hearings and a mandatory two week period between the final pretrial hearing and the jury trial.  

Riddle was represented by local attorney Stephanie Goodman.  Judge Woodward told Riddle he would set additional pretrial hearings and that Riddle’s attorneys could tell him when those hearings are set.  Riddle remains in custody and was taken back to the Tom Green County Jail when his hearing ended.

Judge Woodward at the beginning of the hearings told the defendants that if this was their first felony offense for drug possession they would be eligible for probation.  He told them that probation comes with some type of court ordered drug treatment and he encouraged those who qualified to meet with their attorneys and begin treatment now instead of waiting for their case to be heard in court.  Woodward told the crowd that if they were having a heart attack they would seek treatment now and not wait. He encouraged them to look at treatment for drug addiction the same way they look at treatment for a heart attack.