Competency hearing will start action in Quentin Watson's double murder trial on Friday

The double murder trial of 29-year-old Quentin Watson of Franklinton will get under way on Monday, Aug. 1 in the 22^nd District Courtroom of Judge William Knight instead of Friday as previously reported.

Quentin Watson

Watson is charged with the shooting deaths of Anita Smith, 46, and her nephew, William Lewis, 32, in Smith’s East Acres Subdivision. Their bodies were discovered on Feb. 6, 2008

On Friday, the court will hold a competency hearing for Watson, who first accepted responsibility for the killings when he was arrested in August 2009, then pled “not guilty” during his arraignment and continued to profess his innocence during a jailhouse interview with the Bogalusa newspaper.

Anita Smith

If Watson is deemed competent to stand trial — meaning he understands the charges against him and can aid in his defense — the trial will get under way on August 1.

It was in that interview that Watson even claimed to have talked with the person he believes to be the real killer and said his confession to police was out of fear for the safety for his family and himself.

Watson said he received a call on his cell phone the day the bodies were discovered and was told that if he said anything, he “would be next.”

Law enforcement discounted Watson’s claims and said he was looking for a way out. They also said the person Watson was referring to was never a suspect in the case and that Watson’s claims are not supported by the evidence collected — which includes his DNA.

Getting to this point was not easy, as law enforcement officers spent 18 months following every lead, then going back and following up again. Despite evidence found at the scene, the pieces of the puzzle never quite seemed to fit together.

But that began to change when Watson was arrested for prescription fraud in November 2008. It what Watson described as the first time he ever got in trouble, he says he bought a forged prescription for Lortab from a former nurse and tried to get it filled in Bogalusa.

It was that arrest, and subsequent collection of his DNA by Pardons and Paroles in March 2009, that led to Watson’s arrest.

A backlog delayed the entry of Watson’s DNA into the state system until July 2009 but it was at that point that investigators got a hit with evidence they had collected at the crime scene.

Police began tracking Watson’s movements before bringing him in for questioning when, Franklinton Police Chief Donald Folse said, “he took full responsibility” for the killings.