A man charged with stabbing a police dog for the second time will appear on Aug. 19 at a mental competency hearing as his attorney doubts he is mentally competent to stand trial.

Dedrick Daknell Jones, 36, was to have gone on trial Tuesday, Aug. 9 in San Diego Superior Court, but his attorney told a judge in an earlier hearing he didn’t think his client understood the court proceedings.

Criminal proceedings were suspended and Jones was interviewed in jail by a psychologist who wrote a report which will be reviewed in the Aug. 19 hearing.

Jones was living in a tent on a sidewalk in the 3700 block of Riley Street in the Midway District when he had an altercation with a police dog on Dec. 17, 2021. Police officers were responding to a business owner’s complaint about Jones, which his attorney said was unjustified.

Jones is accused of pulling a knife and stabbing Hondo, 2-3 inches in the chest, but the canine made a full recovery and went back on duty 1 1/2 weeks later, according to police.

At the time, Jones was on probation for stabbing another police dog, Titan, who lost 6-8 inches of his colon and had to have 100 stitches to close his wound after an operation in another incident in the Midway District on Jan. 25, 2021.

Jones pleaded guilty to felony animal cruelty with a knife and resisting arrest. He was sentenced to a year in jail on two years of probation. In his current case, he is charged with felony assault on a police dog, felony animal cruelty, and brandishing a knife.

Jones remains in jail without bail and has pleaded not guilty to his current case.