Former Texas Nurse Accused In Infant Deaths Competent To Stand Trial

SAN ANTONIO (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — A former Texas nurse who prosecutors suspect of causing the deaths of as many as 60 children is competent to stand trial, a judge determined Thursday.

Judge Andrew Carruthers made the ruling in the murder case of 68-year-old Genene Jones after reviewing her psychological evaluation.

But Carruthers agreed to a request by attorneys for Jones that another evaluation be done. She has claimed diminished capacity because of strokes.

Jones has served decades in prison for her 1984 conviction in the death of 15-month-old Chelsea McClellan and for giving an overdose to another infant who survived.

She was scheduled to be released from prison last March when Bexar County prosecutors, citing new evidence, filed the first of five separate murder charges for the deaths of infants in the 1980s.

She has pleaded not guilty to those charges.

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