Lukouxs Brown, 30, was charged with first-degree murder in 2021 in the death of 50-year-old Wayne Smith, of Fort Dodge at the Prestage pork plant near Eagle Grove. According to court documents, Brown cut Smith’s throat in the early morning hours of Feb. 16, 2021.

Brown’s defense attorney very quickly questioned his competency to stand trial.

On May 17, 2021, Brown was sent to the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Oakdale. Psychiatrists there diagnosed him with a major neurocognitive disorder and found him incapable of following a trial or assisting his attorneys.

In a final report filed in January 2022, the psychiatrists wrote that Brown could not be restored to competency with any known treatments in a reasonable period of time.

That report triggered a hearing. Wright County District Court Judge Gregg Rosenbladt allowed prosecutors to hire their own expert to evaluate Brown. The judge then found Brown competent to stand trial on June 17, 2022. In making that decision, Rosebladt agreed with the findings of the state’s expert and set aside the findings of a team of psychiatrists that had worked with Brown for months.

Brown’s attorney appealed that decision.

In March 2024, the Iowa Court of Appeals found Brown incompetent to stand trial. It sent the case back to Wright County District Court with orders to suspend the criminal proceedings indefinitely and return Brown to the Iowa Medical and Classification Facility.

Prosecutors asked the Iowa Supreme Court to review the case.

On Friday, the Iowa Supreme Court issued an opinion stating that state law limits when an independent expert can step in and that the evaluation should not have been used in Brown’s case. The Iowa Supreme Court stated that there is no probability that Brown will be deemed competent.