photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

The Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center is pictured on Nov. 25, 2025.

A Lawrence man who has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of his grandmother has been declared incompetent to stand trial.

Judge Stacey Donovan on Tuesday ordered Marcus Logan Cassella, 25, to Larned State Hospital and set a new status conference for Aug. 25 in the case. If Cassella can’t get a bed at Larned by that date, the court will set a new date. Inmates frequently have to wait months for a bed to open at the state hospital. If he can get a bed, the court will re-assess in August whether he is competent.

Generally speaking, competency is determined when a defendant understands the proceedings against him and can assist in his own defense. Cassella will not stand trial until his competency is established.

Donovan ordered the competency exam on her own initiative after Cassella’s first court appearance. The exam was completed on April 27. Its results are not publicly shared, but both the defense and the state stipulated to its findings Tuesday. Cassella appeared for the hearing via video from the Douglas County Jail, where he is being held on a bond of $1 million.

Cassella is accused of killing his 70-year-old grandma, Lynn Audrey Abrams, on April 18 at a Lawrence home in the 2500 block of West 24th Terrace. Police said that Cassella had confessed to strangling Abrams in a 911 call.

Cassella has a history of violent criminal behavior. Kansas Department of Corrections records indicate that he was convicted of aggravated assault in 2020. He was released from supervision in that case in April 2023. Three months later, in July 2023, he was accused of battering a woman in Douglas County. That case was originally charged as aggravated battery, a felony, and criminal restraint, but it was pleaded down to misdemeanor battery. Prosecutors said that in the 2023 case, Cassella put a stranger in a chokehold as she was walking her dog.

In the 2020 case, as the Journal-World reported, a then 19-year-old Cassella allegedly cut an employee of Casey’s General Store, 1703 W. Sixth St., with a knife. He was arrested on suspicion of aggravated kidnapping, aggravated battery and interference with law enforcement, according to the Douglas County Jail booking log. When officers arrived, they found Cassella being restrained by another employee of the store. He eventually pleaded no contest to aggravated assault.

In opposing a bond reduction in the murder case, the state has described Cassella as a flight risk as well as a danger to community safety.