Shannon Bradley Moore, the 38-year-old Concord man charged with the murder of Clayton resident Ray Casso last March, has been declared incompetent to stand trial.

Casso, 73, was picking up his mail at the post office on March 7 when witnesses say Moore, enraged over postal workers’ refusal to give him cash for outdated stamps, stormed out of the post office, stopping on the way to grab Casso and stab him to death. Moore was apprehended moments after the attack and arrested.

According to court records, Moore does not understand the criminal proceedings and is unable to aid in his own defense. He has been refusing to take prescribed anti-psychotic medications.

Casso’s wife, JoAnn, has closely followed the case, attending most of the court proceedings. In an interview with the Pioneer, she said: “I just don’t understand why he isn’t responsible. Why can’t they make him take the pills?”

According to court documents, Moore could be forced to take the medications if that is the course recommended by his doctors. Casso describes Moore as “very strange.”

“At one hearing last summer, he looked very disheveled – long hair sticking out, unruly beard. He just mumbled.”

At a hearing in October, she noted that “they had cleaned him up, trimmed his hair. He looked clean, but he didn’t say much.” In the months since the killing, Casso has struggled with deep grief, major emotional and financial life changes and bewilderment over a system that appears insensitive and unresponsive. She was faced with closing her husband’s rubber stamp business, selling their beloved vacation home in Tahoe and learning to live without her mate of 47 years.

“It’s been extremely difficult. My whole life changed,” she said.

A new puppy helps a little. She recently adopted Dino, a 4-month-old miniature schnauzer “for company, not protection,” she said. “I just don’t like being alone.”

She’s installed an alarm system on her home and frequent visits from family and friends help ease the loneliness.

On Feb. 4, Casso will again be in the courtroom when attorneys appear for a progress report. If Moore is deemed competent at that time, the criminal case will resume.