Major update in case of slain college student Jillian Ludwig as parents slam 'brutal' waiting period

Daily Mail​

13 hours ago

Nearly two years after the fatal shooting Belmont University student Jillian Ludwig a Tennessee judge ruled that the 'intellectually disabled' man accused the slaying is fit to stand trial.
After nearly a month of deliberation, Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Steve Dozier made the monumental decision on Tuesday.
Judge Dozier rejected arguments from 30-year-old Shaquille Taylor's defense team that he was not mentally competent to understand the charges against him.
'It's been brutal, just waiting and waiting, every day hoping and praying,' Jessica Ludwig, Jillian's mother, said following the ruling. 'It's such a relief to know that this is finally moving forward.'
The decision comes after the tragic death of the 18-year-old Belmont University student who was killed by a stray bullet on a walk in the Edgehill neighborhood of Nashville on November 7, 2023.
Taylor admitted to firing shots before handing the gun off to another person and was later arrested after police say he fired shots at a car, with one bullet striking Jillian in the head.
The college student, a New Jersey native who was studying Music Business, was found about an hour after the shooting and was immediately rushed to the hospital where she succumbed to her injuries.
Taylor, who has been accused of committing other violent crimes in the past, has since been charged with first-degree murder and evidence tampering in relation to Jillian's death.
Despite his prior history of mental health evaluations, which had led to previous rulings of incompetency, Dozier determined that Taylor was now sufficiently able to understand the legal proceedings and participate in his defense.
'Defendant might not be of much assistance to counsel in a tax fraud case against him, but the Court is reasonably assured that Defendant is sufficiently competent to stand trial for the present cases,' Dozier wrote in his ruling, The Tennessean reported.
The decision follows a multi-day competency hearing from June, where psychologists debated Taylor's ability to stand trial.
Although he has a documented intellectual disability and low IQ scores - once as low as 56 - the Tennessee judge emphasized that IQ alone was not the deciding factor in his ruling.
Instead, he considered Taylor's practical understanding of the legal process.
The ruling has been met with mixed emotions from Jillian's family.
'I was shaking,' Jessica Ludwig said. 'I broke down in tears. It was a surge of emotions that went through me. That's the decision we've been praying for and hoping for.'
The devastated mother added that she and her husband, Matt, have been anxiously awaiting the decision for more than a month and the delay, she says, has been excruciating.
The Ludwig family had hoped for this ruling during the June hearing, which they believed should have been a clear decision.
'There was a lot of failures that led up to this,' Jillian's father, Matt, told Fox17 Nashville.
While the ruling brings a sense of relief, the road to justice is far from over.
'I believe we are one step closer to justice, and we just thank everybody standing with us,' Jessica said through tears.
'We're thankful to the prosecutors who helped to prove that and to the judge who understood it and saw exactly what we saw, a competent man who should be held accountable,' Jessica said.
The case however has highlighted a serious gap in The Volunteer State's legal system.
Months before Jillian's death, Taylor had been accused of other violent crimes but was released after multiple psychological evaluations found him incompetent, WSMV reported.
But, in July 2024, 'Jillian's Law,' sponsored by House Majority Leader William Lamberth, R-Portland, was passed and now requires felony defendants found incompetent to stand trial be committed for treatment.
The Tuesday ruling also underscores how the mental competency of criminal defendants is assessed and handled.
During Taylor's case, Dozier took particular issue with the remote evaluation conducted by Dr. Mary Elizabeth Wood, a psychologist who assessed Taylor via videoconference, raising concerns about technology's ability to capture the nuances of psychological assessments in complex legal cases.
'While there is a time and place for such technologies, the nuances of psychological assessments for adjudicative purposes may strain the connection between an administrator and their subject,' Dozier wrote in his ruling.
Now that Taylor has been declared competent, the trial can move forward, with the prosecution pushing for justice for Jillian.
For the Ludwig family, however, the ruling represents just one chapter in an ongoing battle.
'Nothing's going to bring her back, but in a way, this ruling might help set a precedent for other rulings to help make changes to a broken system,' Jessica said.