Photo: Alex Jordan Jeschke
A man charged with shooting his uncle has been waiting for five months to be examined to determine his mental fitness to proceed in his case, according to electronic court records.
Twenty-three-year-old Alex Jordan Jeschke of Mountain Home has already entered a not guilty plea to charges of first-degree attempted murder.
The examinations were ordered Sept. 8 last year to determine if Jeschke is mentally fit to participate in his case and can be held criminally responsible for his actions.
Jeschke was due to appear in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday, but his attorney, Mark Cooper, filed for a continuance on Wednesday, because the mental evaluations have not been completed, and a case is considered inactive until those are done.
In Arkansas, it is not unusual for pre-trial detainees to wait for six months or more to have an evaluation completed.
Meanwhile, they sit in jail.
Jeschke has been locked up in the Baxter County Detention Center since his initial arrest on Aug. 26 last year with bond set at $500,000.
THE SHOOTING
The shooting took place at a residence along McClure Lane Aug. 24 last year.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Mountain Home police responded to the address, after a male caller reported, “My uncle has been shot.”
The man terminated the call after making that statement.
When officers arrived at the scene, they found the victim on the bathroom floor. He had suffered multiple gunshot wounds.
No one else was in the residence.
As medical personnel were treating the victim, he is reported to have said, “Alex did…..” before becoming unresponsive.
The victim was transported to Baxter Regional Medical Center (BRMC).
As officers were securing the scene, a female arrived and told them she lived at the residence, along with the victim and her son — Alex Jeschke.
Officers took the woman to BRMC where she is reported to have gotten a telephone call from her daughter.
The daughter said Jeschke had just come to her apartment and, after a brief conversation, stated, “I shot uncle Bobby.”
Jeschke took the keys to his sister’s vehicle and left. He was arrested in Bakersfield without incident.
He was transported from Ozark County to the Baxter County jail Aug. 26.
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