A Birmingham man charged in the brutal slayings of his mother and his 3-year-old son is competent to stand trial, a Jefferson County judge ruled Monday.

Desmond Deon Burt, 33, is charged with capital murder in the 2022 deaths of 62-year-old Cynthia Delane Burt and Desmond Deon Burt Jr.

Birmingham police were dispatched to Cynthia Burt’s residence at 4909 Hillman Drive on a welfare check at 5:12 p.m. Sunday, April 3, 2022. When officers arrived, they were met by concerned family members.

Burt was among the family members gathered outside the home when police arrived. The other family members did not appear to be aware of Desmond Burt Sr.’s alleged involvement, police said at the time.

Police and Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service made forced entry into the home. Inside they discovered Cynthia Burt and Desmond Jr. unresponsive in a back room. Both were pronounced dead on the scene at 6:38 p.m.

Both died from blunt force trauma.

Police said the family had not had any communication with the victims for two days. It wasn’t immediately clear how long they had been dead when they were found.

“It’s very difficult for the family,’’ Chief Scott Thurmond said at the time. “They’ve lost two family members, and they have another family member that’s now been charged in their murders.”

For officers and investigators, he said, “It’s a lasting impression that you can’t get out of your mind. Those are things that stick with you the rest of your life and they’re oftentimes very difficult to deal with.”

Neighbors said Desmond Jr., who lived with his mother in Wylam, often visited with his paternal grandmother, who was a retired nurse.

“She loved her grandkids,’’ one neighbor said. “She’d do anything for them, anything to protect them.”

Desmond Jr.’s family described the boy as a “pure, precious sole.”

Burt underwent a court-ordered psychiatric examination. His attorneys said in court documents he had a long history of mental illness and had a brain shunt put in shortly before the murders.

Following a hearing Monday morning, Bessemer Cutoff Jefferson County Circuit Judge Thomas Thrash deemed Burt competent to stand trial.

The judge wrote that the findings of the mental exam showed Bert was “not experiencing symptoms of mental disease or defect which could have precluded his ability to appreciate the nature and quality or wrongfulness of his acts.”

The trial is set for March 3, 2025. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.