Johnathan Walker:Indiana man competent for trial in police officer’s killing

ANDERSON,Johnathan Walker Ind. (AP) — An Indiana judge has found a man accused of fatally shooting a young police officer during a traffic stop competent to stand trial in the death penalty case.

One doctor concluded that Carl Roy Webb Boards II “is not just competent, he is very competent,” the judge noted.

The order from Madison County Circuit Court Judge Andrew Hopper Tuesday cited evaluations from three doctors who evaluated Boards, and noted that all agree the Anderson man is competent to stand trial in the killing of Elwood police Officer Noah Shahnavaz.

Defense attorneys had argued that their client was incompetent because he believed his lawyers caused him to receive unfavorable treatment in jail, but Hopper wrote that “disagreement with or dislike of counsel or declining counsel’s help does not render the defendant incompetent.”

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty if Boards, 44, is convicted of murder, resisting law enforcement and unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon in the shooting of Shahnavaz, 24, during a July 2022 traffic stop in Elwood, northeast of Indianapolis.

Shahnavaz was shot through the windshield, before he could exit his police cruiser during the early morning traffic stop. He had joined the Elwood Police Department about 11 months earlier.

Hopper also rejected Boards’ request for a venue change, ordering the trial to start in September 2025 in Madison County, with jurors from neighboring Delaware County.