MADISON COUNTY, Ind. — A central Indiana judge has ruled the suspect accused of shooting and killing an Elwood police officer is competent to stand trial and face the death penalty.
Carl Roy Webb Boards II, a 44-year-old Anderson man, faces felony murder and resisting arrest charges in relation to the shooting death of Elwood police officer Noah Shahnavaz in July 2022. If found guilty, Boards could be put to death.
Over a year ago, a Madison County judge ruled that Boards must undergo mental health evaluations to determine if he was competent to stand trial. In September 2023, the same judge asked evaluators to rule whether Boards was intellectually disabled.
Now, concerns over Boards' competency have been quelled.
Order of Competency
In a ruling filed Tuesday in Madison Circuit Court 3, Judge Andrew Hopper said that the courts have found "overwhelming evidence" that Boards is competent to be tried in the case.
"The defendant has the ability to understand the proceedings and assist in the preparation of a defense, and is competent," the judge wrote.
Boards' defense team originally argued that their client was incompetent because he believed they caused him to receive unfavorable treatment while in jail.
However, Judge Hopper wrote that disliking your counsel does not mean that you are incompetent.
Judge Hopper also wrote that Boards has gone through three separate mental health evaluations since his arrest, all of which he passed.
"I am extremely confident in my opinion of Mr. Boards’ competence." one doctor wrote. "There was nothing at all in my evaluation that indicated any failing in his competence. He did not present with any deficit in this regard at all. He is not just competent, he is very competent."
Order of Venue
While arguing that their client was incompetent, Boards' defense team also appealed to the court to move the trial to another county.
Citing "prejudicial pretrial publicity" in the case, the attorneys said that jurors from Madison County would be unable to make an impartial decision. The defense team entered several news articles covering Boards' case to back up their claims.
While Judge Hopper wrote in a Tuesday filing that mere exposure and publicity in a case does not warrant a venue change, the defense and judge did come to an agreement.
Rather than moving where the case is being, jurors in the case will now be drawn from Delaware County residents. The trial, set to begin in January 2025, will still be held in Madison County.
Death of Shahnavaz
Boards was arrested in the early morning hours of July 31, 2022, in Elwood after investigators say he shot at EPD Officer Shahnavaz 36 times during an attempted traffic stop.
At the time, EPD said responding officers found the 24-year-old Shahnavaz sitting in his vehicle with his gun still in his holster.
Shahnavaz was transported to Ascension St. Vincent Mercy in Elwood and later was flown to an Indianapolis area hospital. He was pronounced dead soon after.
A newer member of the Elwood police force, Shahnavaz had joined the police academy 11 months before the shooting after serving in the Army for five years.
Officials claim Boards fled the scene of the shooting in his car, which was recovered later that morning after a police pursuit and eventual arrest.
Court documents filed in the case claim Boards possessed cocaine and marijuana during the July 31 incident, and that he had delta-9 THC and cocaine metabolite in his blood during the incident.
A look at Boards’ lengthy criminal history shows he was sentenced to a 25-year aggravated sentence in connection to a 2006 incident in which he shot at Indianapolis police officers.