Ex-football player who killed man with machete to remain jailed

A judge on Monday ruled the former Texas A&M football player accused of hacking a jogger to death on the White Rock Creek Trail will stay in jail until the case is heard by a grand jury.

Robert Johnson, the father of suspect Thomas Johnson, wants to know if police inappropriately questioned his son after he told them he had been diagnosed with a mental illness but was not taking medication for it. By law, one must knowingly and intelligently wave their right to remain silent.

Robert Johnson said Thomas was diagnosed with schizophrenia after he disappeared from the Texas A&M campus shortly after a historic win over Alabama in 2012.

“That disease actually has him running from help,” Robert Johnson said. “It said, ‘You don't need to listen to him.’"

On Oct. 12, police say Thomas Johnson viciously attacked David Stevens with a machete, a jogger he chose at random on White Rock Creek Trail. He then went to an equestrian center called 911 and confessed to the crime.

Thomas Johnson’s lawyers are expected to use a not guilty by reason of insanity defense.