DA reports Babcock’s ‘status’ is unchanged

Five months after he was accused of beating his four-year-old son to death, Robert Babcock remains in the Donley County Jail.

A rumor surfaced last week that Babcock was being released, but District Attorney Luke Inman tells the Enterprise that there has been no change in the defendant’s “status.”
“We are in the final stages of investigation and are preparing for a possible grand jury presentation,” Inman told the Enterprise Monday.

Inman did say that a motion was filed on January 24 regarding the mental competency of the defendant and that District Judge Stuart Messer at that time ordered an evaluation of mental competency. The Donley County Clerk’s office confirmed that and said no other motions were on file and also said there was nothing on file indicating whether the examination had taken place.

Inman said the grand jury is next scheduled to meet in Donley County on June 29, but he could not say that Babcock’s case would be presented at that time.

Babcock is accused of causing the death of Chance Mark Jones, who died on January 5. According to previous reports, preliminary results of an autopsy conducted the next day revealed that boy died from blunt force trauma to the head and that he also suffered internal injuries from trauma to the torso.

The defendant was formally charged with Capital Murder and Domestic Violence, and bond was set at $1.1 million.