BATON ROUGE — A judge has determined that a 20-year-old man is currently incompetent to stand trial after hearing from a sanity commission.
On June 8, doctors in the commission reported their findings in court. The judge determined that Jaymie Thomas, who was arrested in 2024 for the murder of Marcus Spears, is not competent enough at this time for a trial or to help his own lawyers in the process.
Thomas will now begin in-house “restoration” in prison while he waits to be admitted into the Eastern Louisiana Mental Health System, according to court records.
Another sanity hearing for Thomas is scheduled for later this year.
Original Story Oct. 13, 2024
A 19-year-old was out on bond for first-degree robbery when he allegedly murdered Marcus Spears, who was reported missing from Addis on Oct. 6, 2024. Baton Rouge Police arrested Jaymie Thomas of Baton Rouge on Oct. 10 on the charge of second-degree murder.
UWK has found that Thomas was arrested in June for multiple felony charges and was out on probation. His probation review happened just days before Spears was reported missing.
According to court records, Thomas had not reported to Probation and Parole since September when he accepted the plea. That was reported in his probation review on Oct. 3.
The following outlines the incidents in June that Thomas was arrested for, along with his bond hearing and arraignment.
• June 14: Near 10:30 p.m., BRPD responded to a call about a robbery at the Circle K at 5035 Government Street. An employee of the store said that two masked people came inside and went behind the counter.
One of the masked suspects, who was later identified as Thomas, motioned to his waist to indicate he may have a weapon and then demanded the employee open the register. The register contained $71.31, which the men took, and Thomas also allegedly stole some scratch-off lottery tickets while the other suspect allegedly took multiple cigarette cartons.
The suspects left in a white malibu that a third suspect is accused of driving. The vehicle had been reported stolen the morning of June 14.
• June 15: An officer spotted the stolen vehicle in Baton Rouge and attempted to make a traffic stop. However, the driver, who was later identified as Thomas, refused and led officers on a high-speed pursuit, traveling 25 miles per hour above the posted limits and driving off road multiple times, the arrest documents show.
Thomas ultimately crashed the car into a tree and then fled fleeing on foot. He refused to stop running and was eventually tased, the document reports.
He continued to resist officers from putting his arms behind his back until the officers were able to handcuff him. Thomas then told officers he got the vehicle from an unknown person in a north Baton Rouge neighborhood.
He told officers that he ran because he was scared of the police. Officers realized that Thomas was wearing the same shirt as seen in the Circle K’s surveillance video from the robbery the night before.
When searching the car, officers located a glass crack pipe. Thomas was charged with aggravated flight from an officer, resisting an officer, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, criminal damage to property and possession of drug paraphernalia.
• June 18: Thomas was arrested on a charge of first-degree robbery for the Circle K robbery.
• June 19: At the bond hearing, he was granted a $10,000 bond, which included the following conditions, among others: submitting to random drug screens, obtaining a GED, no possession of a firearm, 50 hours of community service work, and reporting to Probation and Parole within 24 hours of being released.
• July 22: Thomas appeared for his arraignment. He waived his right to a formal arraignment and entered a “not guilty” plea. His court date was set for Sept. 3, 2024.
• Sept. 3: The State dropped the charges against Thomas for resisting an officer and unauthorized use of a vehicle. On the robbery charge, Thomas asked to change his plea to “guilty” and waived his rights to trial.
The judge sentenced Thomas to 7 years, suspended at hard labor and he would be given credit for time served as a result of the robbery charge. The judge then placed Thomas on supervised probation for three years with special conditions of probation.
• Oct. 3: Thomas appeared before a judge for his probation review. At the review, it was acknowledged that Thomas had enrolled to earn his GED, as outlined in his probation conditions.
However, Thomas had not reported to probation and parole since he took the plea in September.
Spears was reported missing by his roommate on Oct. 7 and his body was recovered in grassy area in the 3000 block of East Mason St. on Oct. 9.
• Oct 10: Thomas was arrested and charged with the following: second-degree murder, access device fraud, illegal carrying of weapon, possession of firearm by a felon, and unauthorized use of a vehicle.
Thomas is on probationary hold for the robbery in June, and he will go before a judge for a bond hearing in the matter of the murder of Marcus Spears.
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