Judge orders competency exam for Alamo murder suspect

Larry Charles Culbert III

A judge on Friday ordered that a 28-year-old San Juan man charged with fatally cutting a 47-year-old woman’s neck in a Bealls parking lot be examined for his competency.

Alamo police arrested Larry Charles Culbert III on March 25 and charged him with murder in the death of Andrea Socorro Reyna.

The order, issued by 275th state District Judge Marla Cuellar, is sealed.

Police allege that after Culbert, Reyna and her 11-year-old child finished shopping that the pair got into a verbal dispute at around 6:30 p.m. in the Bealls plaza in Alamo at 1449 Duranta Ave.

“They got out of their vehicles and a verbal dispute began regarding jealousy. The suspect then knocked the victim to the ground and with a knife cut the victims throat and the suspect then turned the knife on himself, causing a self-inflicted stab wound to his neck area,” police said in a news release.

He was taken to a hospital and Child Protective Services reunited the child with a family member, according to police.

Culbert recently indicated to Cuellar that he is taking medication that somewhat impeded his ability to understand a court hearing and his former attorney, Ricardo Alanis, said during that hearing that he could not tell the judge whether Culbert was competent.

Alanis had also filed a request to examine Culbert’s competency early on in the case against the man, who has been indicted on a charge of murder.

The defense attorney had been appointed to represent Culbert, but last week Regina Regi Richardson had been employed to represent him, court records indicate.

Richardson filed a motion to set bond for Culbert, who has been jailed without bond since his arrest.