Bond has been set at $3 million for the man suspected in yesterday's triple shooting in East Dallas after an appearance before a magistrate today.
James Lee Manning, 57, was arraigned early this morning. While the Dallas Police Department’s arrest warrant calls Manning “James Lee Webb,” official court documents and Dallas County jail records refer to him as James Lee Manning.
On a paper requesting a court-appointed attorney Manning signed his name “58119220.”
An arrest affidavit says Manning shot his wife, Victoria Bunton, and his two teenage children because he was upset there was a loud family argument that woke him. The warrant says Manning then used a medical alert device to call police an hour after the shooting.
“The defense lawyer is immediately going to have some psychiatrist, psychologist look at him because there’s going to be some mental issues and be the only defense you have in this case” said Toby Shook, a former prosecutor who is now a criminal defense lawyer. Shook is not a party to this case.
Shook thinks Manning’s decision to report the murders in addition to his use of numbers when a signature was required also point to psychological problems.
Manning is currently accused of capital murder, a crime that carries only two sentences: Life without parole or death. In recent years the U.S. Supreme Court has issued rulings that make it tougher to seek the death penalty on mentally ill defendants.