LITTLE ROCK—A man accused of killing a television anchorwoman is competent to stand trial, a judge ruled Thursday, setting the stage of a possible death penalty case.

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza said Curtis Lavelle Vance showed he can assist in his own defense by filing his own motions and asking that his attorneys be removed. Piazza said it would be “almost ludicrous” to hold up Vance’s scheduled Sept. 9 trial for a monthlong stay at Arkansas State Hospital, which Vance’s lawyers requested after he refused to cooperate in a mental examination.

“I think he’s demonstrated through his own actions he’s fit to proceed in this case,” Piazza said.

Vance has pleaded not guilty to a capital murder charge in the October 2008 slaying of KATV Little Rock anchorwoman Anne Pressly. Pressly’s mother found her daughter severely beaten Oct. 20 after she missed a wake-up call at her Little Rock home. Pressly died at a hospital Oct. 25, having never regained consciousness.

Prosecutors haven’t said if they’ll seek the death penalty. If convicted of capital murder, state law allows only for a death sentence or life in prison.

A psychiatrist hired by the defense, Dr. Shawn Agharkar, testified that Vance’s mother beat his head repeatedly against a brick wall when he was 5 years old, and that he may have suffered brain damage as a result. School records show Vance had the comprehension of a fourth-grader when he was in eighth grade, Agharkar said.

The psychiatrist also said Vance showed signs of paranoia during a two-and-a-half hour interview in March, in which Vance claimed there was a “conspiracy” to convict him of killing Pressly, a morning anchorwoman for the Little Rock ABC affiliate.

“It has a very paranoid flavor to it,” Agharkar said. “It’s not rational.”

Agharkar said Vance’s family had a history of schizophrenia. Vance’s mother, Jacqueline Burnett, also suffered from psychosis at one point, he said. After the hearing, Burnett told reporters she had been addicted to crack cocaine since 1986 and that everything Agharkar “said was true.”

Katherine Streett, Vance’s lead attorney, argued her client needed further neurological and psychiatric examination as he might also be mentally disabled. A 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision prevents states from executing the mentally disabled.

But when questioned by Piazza, Agharkar acknowledged Vance gave no indication that he couldn’t help with his own defense during the interview. Wednesday, Vance filed a six-page, handwritten motion on his own behalf. In it, Vance again asked Piazza to assign him new lawyers and cited case law to bolster his claims. Piazza previously denied a request from Vance for a new defense team, saying he had not control over who the state public defender commission put on individual cases.

“The court abused its judicial discretion by doing so to the defendant simply because the defendant asked for a change of attorneys who were destroying any type of defense that the defendant (may) have,” Vance wrote. “And it is constitutionally, (statutorily), substantially wrong!”

Vance also claimed police arrested two other men seen on a videotape at a gas station where Pressly’s credit card was used after the attack. A gag order in the case prevents police, prosecutors and defense lawyers from speaking to reporters.

Deputy prosecutor John Johnson said interviews Vance gave with police detectives show he understood the charges against him.

“The responsibility is his,” Johnson said. “We cannot make him cooperate.”

Police announced in November that a DNA sample collected at the Pressly’s home matched a sample from an unsolved rape in Marianna, about 90 miles east of Little Rock. Detectives focused on Vance, who had allegedly been seen loitering around several homes that had been burglarized in the Mississippi Delta community.

Prosecutors say Vance has confessed three times to Pressly’s slaying since his arrest.

Piazza set a July 28 hearing to discuss DNA evidence, Vance’s motion and whether prosecutors would want to strike a plea deal. The judge started Thursday’s hearing by warning those in the courtroom that he would jail journalists who broadcast audio recorded in the court. Little Rock television station KLRT, a local Fox affiliate, played audio from the last court hearing during its nightly newscasts.

Shane Deitert, managing editor of KLRT, declined to comment.